Al Gore: America must go 100% renewable

Environmental campaigner Al Gore has set the US an ambitious challenge: to produce all of its electricity from renewable and carbon constrained sources within the next ten years.

Speaking in Washington the former vice president called upon Americans to end their ‘dangerous over reliance’ on oil and coal by switching electricity production to solar power, wind energy, and geothermal energy.

‘We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet,’ said Gore.

‘Every bit of that’s got to change.’

Gore says that the plan to go 100% renewable by 2018 would significantly reduce the impact of climate change, would renew the country’s lagging economy, and would avoid international conflict over oil.

‘I ask you to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge - for America to be running on 100% zero-carbon electricity in 10 years,’ he said.

‘It’s time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now.’

He then compared the ambition of his vision to that of John F. Kennedy, who in 1961 challenged America to put a man on the moon within then years.

Gore’s challenge, however, is not without controversy, attracting criticism from energy companies and economists.

Going 100% renewable would mean a complete revamp of America’s national grid. One commentator went as far as to label Gore as ‘irresponsible and deranged’, seeking economic suicide.