By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: October 25, 2005, 9:34 AM PT
WASHINGTON--Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday decried the Bush
administration's current energy policies and called for a new fund to
fuel investments in energy-related technologies.
The New York Democrat called on government and business
leaders to "put research in alternative and smart energy sources into
high gear."...
Clinton spoke to venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at the Clean Tech Venture Forum
conference here. The term clean tech refers to a range of technologies
designed to cut down on pollution and use natural resources more
efficiently...
"The energy revolution can be as big and important as the industrial
revolution and the explosion of the information age," Clinton said.
She proposed a "strategic energy fund," which would be created by a portion of profits from large oil companies.
The money would give consumers and businesses tax incentives to be more
energy-efficient and be used to stimulate research investment, she
said. Companies that invest in alternative energies and promote
efficiency would be exempt, she said...
To promote renewable sources of energy, she said, the U.S. should
set an energy-usage goal that, by 2020, would have 20 percent of the
energy generated coming from renewable sources.
In
addition to calling for government incentives, she called on both
venture capitalists and Wall Street investors to fund innovative
companies in the sector...
"We're posed with the chance and the opportunity to change our energy
future," she said. "We can be the world leader of new energy technology
and not just the world's major consumer of oil."
Read the whole article here: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9596_22-5913165.html