fat chance. i read somthing on the topic the other day. for instance, to produce hydrogen that could be used in hydrogen powered vehicles it takes a tremendous ammount of energy (electricity) either from nuke power or fossil fuels to extract isolate hydrogen. so while they cars arent polluting, the process to create the hydrogen at best is nuclear power. there are scientists developing processes that use sunlight to extract the hydrogen but it is decades in the future before it is efficent. to put it best. the best we are gonna do for another 40 or 50 years are hybrid vehicles or very fuel efficent gasoline engines. that is, ofcourse, there is some HUGE technological break thru. i doubt the bill funds alternate energy that much if at all.

 

The bill is supposed to fund alternate energy.

Requirement for refiners to use 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol annually by 2012, double current production.

Tax breaks of $14.5 billion over 10 years for energy companies, renewable energy sources and promotion of efficiency.

A $1.8 billion program to promote clean coal research and development.

Loan guarantees and other subsidies for clean energy technologies and new nuclear reactors.

I haven't read much of the bill, but I think I approve of it.

 

Way to give a narrow view of a broad situation! :goodjob:

I know you don't like bush, but come on. There's plenty in that bill that will give kickbacks or tax reductions to people, like you and me, that buy fuel efficent cars and houses that use solar panels and wind generators to reduce the need on the power grid that gets most of it's power from fossil fuels.

This is an energy conservation bill, not lets get nightshade to pay 5 cents less for gas. There's a lot more to it than that.

 

I'm just pissed about the whole "Change daylight savings time" clause... that will cause anyone in the tech field with embedded systems a huge headache.

 

Yeah there are tax breaks to gas companies like Exxon who made record incomes of something like 18 billion dollars last year.

Don't give me that bs about the US trying to go full steam into the search for alternative fuels, if that were the case the gas companies would be getting hit for more tax, and that money would go directly into breaks for companies producing solar, and other alternatives to fossil consumption.

 

cheney and bush are oil executives and it's getting worse that republicans are becoming a party for the texas wealth and not for the people - oil and political favors are the only concern of this presidency...it's to a point that i think most moderate republicans like myself are starting to break away from the party

 

Well, I don't know about all that. If the taxe breaks are related to research and development for alternate fuels or for increased production of ethanol, etc. then there's no reason to withhold them merely because a company is doing well. If the tax breaks are really a kick back to their buddies, then it is b.s.

As far as promoting alternate fuels through the implementation of an artificial market condition, that is total b.s. If you're already pissed about high gas prices, tax the oil companies more and see what happens to gas prices. They'll pass every cent along to the consumer and because alternate forms of transportation are still too expensive, everyone will pay it. Oil companies wouldn't feel any problem and wouldn't have any incentive to look into other fuel sources.

The reason I am in favor of the bill (in theory, haven't read it all for myself to know) is that it provides a business incentive for R&D into alternate fuels. Once alternate fueled vehicles are close to similarly priced to oil, the market may shift. Until then, it's all a pipe dream and we're stuck with what we've got.

 

I wonder if Jay Leno is driving his steam powered car more often now.

 

I heard about the ethanol thing, but I was wondering if this bill was going to put any subsidization towards biodiesel. I sure as hell was hoping so, but I don't think it's going to happen. As far as a cost-effective, clean, renewable alternative fuel, bio-d is by far the best option we have.

 

I was afraid that this bill was going to be... I think the energy companies already got enough help with their uncontested contracts for rebuilding the middle-east :ugh: