Gore: End fossil fuel addiction in 10 years

Former VP challenges incoming president to begin full-scale green energy campaign

 WASHINGTON. Former Vice President Al Gore called Thursday for a "man on the moon" effort to switch all of the nation's electricity production to wind, solar and other carbon-free sources within 10 years, a goal that he said would solve global warming as well as economic and national security crises caused by dependence on fossil fuels.

"The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels," Gore told a packed auditorium in Washington's historic Constitution Hall. "When you connect the dots, it turns out 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."

To speed up the transition to new energy sources, Gore said the single most important policy change would be to "tax what we burn, not what we earn," advocating a tax on carbon dioxide pollution.

Gore's proposal would represent a significant shift in where the U.S. gets its power. In 2005, coal supplied slightly more than half the nation's 3.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. Nuclear power accounted for 21 percent, natural gas 15 percent and renewable sources, including wind and solar, about 8.6 percent.

Some energy experts said the turnaround Gore advocates is too fast, but Gore said the changing economics of energy would overcome the political and technological obstacles. He  said both fellow Democrat Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain are "way ahead" of most politicians in the fight against global climate change.

The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group Gore leads, put the 30-year cost of his plan — both government and private — at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion.