A mandated cut in gasoline consumption is a mistake. What should be policy is implementation of a carbon tax. That way, the more fossil carbon you release the more you pay (pay as you go). The income can be earmarked for research/development/ and subsidy of alternative fuels. The higher cost coupled with the reduced out of pocket cost of the alternatives will limit gasoline consumption on its own.
clipped from www.businessweek.com
Karsner's job is to implement the Advanced Energy Initiative, announced by President Bush in his State of the Union address. The proposal calls for both the mandated cut in gasoline use and a 22% increase in clean-energy research to make clean energies competitive with those from fossil fuels. Karsner says his approach is "the opposite of what the legacy has been." He believes that since the 1970s the government has focused only on research and development, and needs to now shift more resources to commercialization and deployment. "It's time for a mass diffusion of new energy and technology into the American economy," he said in a Feb. 21 speech to alternative energy industry leaders and investors in New York. "Free-enterprise capitalism is the most effective route to bring clean energy into the economy."
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