The US Government may have been slow to catch on to green issues, but if Republican White House contender John McCain gets his way the country will soon be at the forefront of the drive to produce zero-emission engines.
Senator McCain, who will challenge Barack Obama in the November elections to succeed George W Bush as President of the United States, has offered a $300million federal prize and tax credits to encourage the development of alternative energy as fuel prices continue to rocket.
“Whether it takes a meeting with automakers during my first month in office, or my signature on an act of Congress, we will meet the goal of a swift conversion of American vehicles away from oil,” he said.
It marks a turnaround for the candidate who had previously voted against tighter fuel efficiency standards and against tax credits for alternative forms of energy, something the Obama camp was quick to point out.
However, McCain is firmly against the use of corn-based ethanol as an alternative fuel in green cars, and is concentrating his efforts on encouraging the growth of purely clean cars.
“My administration will issue a Clean Car Challenge to the automakers of America, in the form of a single and substantial tax credit based on the reduction of carbon emissions,” he said.
“For every automaker who can sell a zero-emissions car, we will commit a $5,000 tax credit for each and every customer who buys that car.
“I further propose we inspire the ingenuity and resolve of the American people by offering a $300m prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.
“This is one dollar for every man, woman and child in the US – a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency – and should deliver a power source at 30 per cent of the current costs.”
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