President Bush Speaks At Renewables Energy Conference

Today, President Bush spoke to the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference and discussed the importance of renewable and alternative energy technologies to increasing America's energy security and addressing the long-term challenge of global climate change. The more sources of energy we have, the less influence any one of them, such as oil, has over the United States' security and prosperity. Renewable energies are some of the most promising new sources for energy because they are clean and because their supply can be regenerated. The Washington International Renewable Energy Conference brings together government, civil society, and private sector leaders to address benefits and costs of the global deployment of renewable energy technology.

In December, President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, which responded to his "Twenty in Ten" challenge in last year's State of the Union Address to improve vehicle fuel economy and increase alternative fuels.

· The Renewable Fuels Mandate will increase the use of renewable fuels by 500 percent – requiring fuel producers to supply at least 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel in the year 2022.
· The Vehicle Fuel Economy Mandate specifies a national mandatory fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, which will save billions of gallons of fuel and increase efficiency by 40 percent.

Additionally, the Act advances the following efficiencies:

· The Lighting Efficiency Mandate will phase out the use of incandescent light bulbs by 2014, and improve lighting efficiency by more than 70 percent by 2020.
· The Appliance Efficiency Mandate sets over 45 new standards for appliances.
· The Federal Government Operations Mandate will reduce the energy consumption of Federal Government facilities 30 percent by 2015. Additionally, all new Federal buildings will be carbon-neutral by 2030.

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