During President Obama's State of the Union Address last night, he stated that investments need to be made in technology to benefit this country's future. He called this our "Sputnik moment" (referring to the space race against the Soviets in 1950) and claimed that Congress would be provided with a budget authorized for, "investing in biomedical research, IT and especially clean energy technology."
"...weve begun to reinvent our energy policy. Were not just handing out money. Were issuing a challenge. Were telling Americas scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, well fund the Apollo Projects of our time."
The President also set a goal of having 80% of all American power provided by clean energy sources, including wind, solar, natural gas, nuclear and clean coal, by 2035. By this same date, he also wants 80% of Americans have access to high speed rail. As for personal vehicles, his goal is for the US to "break our dependence on oil with biofuels" and have 1 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2015."