LACKLICK, Ohio - Vice President Al Gore held out to drivers, homeowners, and business people ''an offer that they can't refuse'' - a proposed $48 billion in subsidies to help them buy electric cars, solar-powered homes, and other ''clean'' technologies.
The Democratic presidential candidate visited a suburban Columbus housing development to outline his energy proposal, which was priced as a 10-year package. It would give tax credits of up to $6,000 for buying electric cars, between $4,000 and $15,000 for ''highly energy-efficient'' trucks and 18-wheelers, and $2,000 for new homes equipped with solar panels or above-grade windows, insulation and heating, cooling, and hot-water systems.
Gore's plan also offers a $1,000 tax credit for homeowners to retrofit existing heating, cooling, and hot-water systems.
''If all of our buildings - residential and commercial - shifted to these new kinds of economically sensible technologies, we could dramatically reduce pollution in our country and generate enormous savings for the homeowner and the business people,'' Gore told residents of a development of new, energy-efficient homes.
''It's a matter of changing the pattern of practice, getting people who can't afford the upfront cost over the hurdles by giving them a tax credit to make it an offer that they can't refuse, and then change will take place,'' Gore said.
Gore promised, if elected, to pursue enactment of an extended version of President Clinton's proposal to give businesses a 20percent tax credit for installing more efficient heating and hot-water equipment.
Gore drew on other existing programs and proposals to round out an agenda that he hoped voters would see as a long-term plan to alleviate the kind of oil dependence that he blames for the recent rise in gas prices.
