BOSTON -- Environmental concerns have been at the core of former Vice President Al Gore's political life from the beginning.

NewsCenter 5's Natalie Jacobson reported that Rep. Ed Markey praised Gore Monday and his efforts to combat global warming.

"He's been a prophet without honor, and now finally, the United Nations and all of their scientists have said, 'Al Gore, you're right,'" Markey said.

Markey will head the newly formed House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

"In the same way that President Kennedy challenged the American people to put a man on the moon in eight years, we, too, over the next 10 years, should answer the challenge that this generation has to solve the problem of energy dependence," Markey said.

He said that 50 percent of electricity in the state is generated by coal, which fuels the high-tech world.

"Tens of millions of computers are left on overnight with their screen saver on. On average, it takes 5 watts per hour to keep it going all night. Why not just make the standard 1 watt per hour? It would save about 30 new coal-fired plants from having to be built in the United States. You look at downtown Boston at night. More than 50 percent of all the lights are on at 11 p.m. If all we did was just install devices in every room that when the last person left, the lights went out automatically, you'd reduce the need for six or eight coal-fired portions to be generated," Markey said.

Those in favor of building more nuclear plants will not find a friend in Markey.

"If there are subsidies to be given out, it should be given out to solar and to wind and to the competing technologies that have been starved over the last 60 years," Markey said.

Markey said that he would use his new chairmanship to steer Congress toward conservation and alternative sources of energy to reduce dependence on coal and oil.

In the meantime, nuclear advocates said we already have the technology for clean energy. They'll point to France, a country dependent almost entirely on nuclear power for its energy.