Gore Issues Challenge: Carbon-Free Electricity Within 10 Years

Former Vice President Al Gore called for the U.S. to abandon fossil-fuel-based electricity within a decade and switch entirely to carbon-free sources, a move he said would ease not only climate change but also economic and national security crises. “It turns out,” he said in a speech in Washington, D.C., “that the real solutions to the climate crisis are the very same measures needed to renew our economy and escape the trap of ever-rising energy prices.” The transformation is achievable, he said, but will require an effort similar to the one that put men on the moon 39 years ago. Gore cited some scientists’ estimates that enough sun shines on the surface of the earth in 40 minutes to power the world for a year and said taxes on carbon dioxide production, instead of taxes on income, should be the basis of U.S. policy. “We should tax what we burn, not what we earn,” he said.