IT WAS, for a moment, as if we were in an alternative reality in which Al Gore had emerged victorious from the 2000 presidential election. 鈥淎merica is addicted to oil,鈥� said George W. Bush on 31 January, in his annual State of the Union address. 鈥淪o tonight, I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative 鈥� a 22 per cent increase in clean-energy research.鈥�
Nowadays Gore is promoting his film An Inconvenient Truth, which highlights the threat posed by global warming. Bush鈥檚 words could have come straight from its script. The president鈥檚 address also heralded a 10-year doubling of spending on research in the physical sciences. Gore would doubtless approve.
So has the ex-oilman president undergone a Damascene conversion to a green, high-tech future? Not quite, judging from Bush鈥檚 budget request to Congress, released on Monday. While this seeks to boost research into solar cells, it also stresses the use of 鈥渃lean鈥� coal, would eliminate research on geothermal power, and cuts energy efficiency programmes. Cheerleaders for green energy find little to be pleased about in the numbers.
Advertisement
The commitment to research in the physical sciences seems real. Bush鈥檚 budget would increase funding by 9.3 per cent, on track for the 10-year target. 鈥淭hat is a dramatic change,鈥� says Kei Koizumi, who monitors federal spending for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
However, Bush鈥檚 move can be explained in one word: China. The boost for physical sciences follows lobbying by industrialists, who fear that the US will lose its economic lead if it fails to invest in innovation. China tops their worry list. China鈥檚 mushrooming energy demands also require a response: there just isn鈥檛 enough oil in the planet鈥檚 tank to satisfy two voracious superpowers. Welcome to the 21st century, George W. 鈥� China鈥檚 century.
