Washington ? Former Vice President Al Gore called Thursday for a “man on the moon” effort to switch all of the nation’s electricity production to wind, solar and other carbon-free sources within 10 years.

Gore compared the challenge to establishing Social Security and the Interstate highway system, as well as landing a man on the moon – all successes that took more than a single presidency to accomplish and required bipartisan efforts.

The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group Gore leads, put the 30-year cost of his plan – both government and private – at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion.

Gore’s proposal would represent a significant shift in where the U.S. gets its power. In 2005, coal supplied slightly more than half the nation’s 3.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. Nuclear power accounted for 21 percent, natural gas 15 percent and renewable sources about 8.6 percent.