President Bush called for greater energy independence and technological solutions, but did not anwer the biggest question for the renewable energy industry, reports the Las Vegas Sun. Investors in wind and solar projects want to know if the President’s energy plans include extending the tax credit for wind farms and solar plants beyond the 2008 date already written into law.

“That can make or break a project just that uncertainty,” Gov. Kenny Guinn’s energy advisor Rebecca Wagner tells the paper. “It’s frustrating because it feels like Nevada is on the cusp of an explosion of resources, particularly wind and geothermal.”

Given the novelty of the technology, renewable energy takes greater initial investment. That’s true, but it’s still not rocket science. We have a technology that seems more than plausible and only needs some encouragement to get it into the mature phase of the product cycle.

But much of the short-term policy seems to be more oil exploration at home. And how can we be planting democracy in the Middle East and hoping that oil sales will fund at least some of Iraq’s recovery and at the same time, deriding foreign oil supplies because they come from a dangerous and unstable part of the world. Or was the president alluding to Saudi Arabia?

Of course, if the president starts to take the oil supply question seriously, he might even start wearing cardigans and turning down the White House thermostat to 68 degrees. Nah.