Congressman Zach Wamp told the Chattanooga Technology Council on Monday that the nation needs strong leadership to make a 10-year push toward development of hydrogen fuels.
The speaker at the luncheon at the Convention Center said moving away from petroleum dependence will help America avert some future wars.
He said, "President Bush has said we need a 15-20-year drive toward hydrogen. I say we need to do it in 10 years."
Rep. Wamp said hydrogen appears to be the most promising technology, but he said fusion or another new idea could jump ahead of it.
He said in America's energy use there has been a trend away from carbon emissions, which he said is a positive move. He said hydrogen would be "clean as a whistle."
Rep. Wamp said there are some promising developments in solar, including solar shingles that are effective in cold weather parts of the country.
He said a number of hybrid vehicles are being introduced by major carmakers, and the vehicles get about twice the gas mileage.
He said nuclear is the most reliable component of TVA's energy system, but he said there are no new reactors being built in the country because after the Three Mile Island diaster "we became scared to death of it."
The speaker said, "TVA needs to bring nuclear back."
Rep. Wamp also told the group that the U.S. "is becoming a nation of consumers."
He said China has a strategy of taking over manufacturing from the U.S., and it subsidies its factories by up to 20 percent.
He said Wal-Mart has become the nation's leading employer with 1.3 million workers, and he said Wal-Mart is increasingly getting its products from China.