Alliance To Save Energy Statement on the Formation of the Organization.

Saving energy must be a major national priority. It is one of America's greatest challenges.

I want to welcome the timely creation of the private, non-profit Alliance To Save Energy, which is being announced today. This organization is dedicated to the concept that there is a new, inexpensive, and accessible resource: conservation energy. Conservation energy is the energy derived by replacing wasteful habits and technologies with more efficient ones. Every American can join in the effort to make conservation energy one of our chief resources. I urge them to do so.

I have asked Vice President Mondale to serve as Honorary Cochairman of the Alliance To Save Energy. I am especially pleased and grateful that former President Ford will serve in this capacity also.

As I said in my address to the Nation last week, we must face the fact that the energy shortage is permanent, and there is no way we can solve it quickly or easily.

Conservation will be the centerpiece of our national energy policy. The amount of energy we waste is greater than the amount of energy we import from foreign nations. All of us must learn not to waste energy. I'm confident that the Alliance To Save Energy will play a significant role in implementing our national energy policy. It is just this kind of effort which is now required to mobilize the American people behind the critical need to use precious energy resources more wisely.