Battery Bonanza: As I see it, Republican presidential nominee John McCain's proposal to create a $300 million prize to stimulate development of a more efficient battery to power electric cars and hybrids hits the nail on the head.

 

People will nitpick McCain's idea, but I think this is exactly the type of approach our government needs to take to help propel the nation -- businesses, consumers, all of us -- forward into the post-oil era. It's imperative that the United States start making meaningful strides to prepare for Life After Oil today, not five years from now.

 

I hope we start seeing a lot more pitches like this so-called battery bounty. And it matters zero to me from which party or governmental branch such concepts originate.

 

This is not an endorsement of McCain's candidacy for president -- not by a long shot. But good ideas are good ideas. We should applaud and support them.

 

Pete Fehrenbach is managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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