Gore: U.S. needs carbon-free energy

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- Ending "reliance on carbon-based fuels" is key to solving U.S. economic security and environmental problems, former Vice President Al Gore said.

Gore, in a speech Thursday at Constitution Hall in Washington, chastised the Bush administration for pushing new off-shore drilling, CNN reported.

"It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil 10 years from now," Gore said.

Since he lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, Gore has become an evangelist for action to slow down climate change, winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

Gore said that the United States should set a 10-year deadline for getting electricity from alternative sources.

"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said, adding that the country's problems are interrelated and tied to its dependence on oil, 70 percent of which comes from foreign sources.