In today's edition of the New York Times, Peter Baker discounted President Obama's assertion in last night's speech that “the time to embrace a clean energy future is now” and his suggestion that we set “standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power.” Baker suggested that clean energy's “connection to the spill... goes only so far,” and stated that the expansion of the wind and solar industries “would not particularly reduce the need for... deepwater drilling” because “neither fills gasoline tanks in cars and trucks.”

In making this argument, Baker misses the point completely.

The fact of the matter is that President Obama's policies have long emphasized an investment in hybrid vehicle technologies that will reduce our dependence on oil. In August, he announced an award of $2.4 billion in stimulus funds to “develop the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks powered by the next generation of battery technologies.” And companies are working to produce electric and hybrid cars that will be plugged in, instead of or in addition to being gassed up.

While wind and solar energy may not fill cars' tanks, it will power their batteries. What Baker fails to acknowledge is that by ensuring that “more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power,” Obama would ensure that those vehicles are powered with clean energy rather than with electricity produced by fossil fuel plants.

Additionally, wind and solar power can be used to produce hydrogen which, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, can be stored for use in vehicles' fuel cells. Contrary to Baker's assertion, investments in and implementation of projects such as these would both reduce the need for offshore drilling and fuel cars and trucks.