Al Gore on the Necessity of a Unified US Power Grid

Al Gore's commitment to saving the environment is no secret to anyone, as the Nobel-prized former vice-president (1993-2001) made that perfectly clear in his environmentalist documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. His group, the Alliance for Climate Protection (APC), has recently urged newly-elected president, Barack Obama, to start developing the nation's power grid as soon as possible.

The APC says that renewable energy could power up America in about a decade, as long as solid investments are made in key energetic sectors, and a unified power grid is created. 

"Our nation just made history. We have an historic opportunity to boost our economy and repower America with 100 percent clean electricity within 10 years. It will create new American jobs, end our addiction to dirty coal and foreign oil and solve the climate crisis," says one of the multiple ads that roam the Internet and the TV stations, following Obama's much-discussed win in the 2008 presidential elections.

Renewable energy is high on Gore's list, as the Oscar-winning film producer says that only by investing in alternate power sources and energy efficiency can America exit the vicious circle of dependency it currently finds itself in. He requested the federal government to "Modernize transmission infrastructure so that clean electricity generated anywhere in America can power homes and businesses across the nation," while also advocating for public investments in geothermal, solar and wind energy.

By creating a unified, national smart electrical grid, all American energy shortages could be overcome from a single command point that would act like a hub, for creating distribution patterns throughout the country.

On R.K. Pachauri's blog, one of the entries supports APC "The U.S. now has a unique opportunity to assume leadership in meeting the threat of climate change, and it would help greatly if the new president were to announce a coherent and forward looking policy soon after he takes office." Pachauri is the head of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and also shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.