Technology Is the Answer

In 1958, President Eisenhower channeled the fear of Soviet space domination into an accelerated program to advance U.S. technology with a mandate to use space for the benefit of all mankind. In a similar vein, we need to focus current angst about the impact of a warming planet into a national program that will revolutionize the ways we generate, deliver, and use electricity, again for the benefit of all mankind.

Just as President Eisenhower recognized that response to Sputnik required a well-thought out approach to space exploration, it’s essential that current emotions don’t outweigh efforts to develop a practical, achievable response to climate change and the potential impacts of growing global concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Here in America, such a response must reduce our contribution to global emissions but must neither impede our ability to provide reliable, reasonably priced electricity to support the economic well-being of our citizens nor create inequities that will harm our economy.

On an international level, we have to determine how to address the exponential growth in emissions from developing countries while still maintaining the opportunity for their citizens to experience the quality of life we’ve enjoyed for generations in the United States.

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© 2008 Edison Electric Institute