Obama Stresses Clean Energy on Earth Day
Posted in Energy Politics | Tidal Power | Wind Power
President Barack Obama is known as a staunch supporter of green energy. His stimulus plan has raised new hope for the environmentalists and economists alike. On the occasion of Earth Day, President Obama declared that developing renewable energy is crucial to America’s prosperity. He also declared that his administration will for the first time lease federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources. Obama also emphasized the need for action on global warming and preserving vast and beautiful natural resources of USA.
President Obama said, “On this Earth Day, it is time for us to lay a new foundation for economic growth by beginning a new era of energy exploration in America.”
He stresses his point by stating, “The choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy — the choice we face is between prosperity and decline. We can remain the world’s leading importer of oil, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of clean energy. We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc across the landscape, or we can create jobs working to prevent its worst effects… The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy.”
He is quite sure that by 2030 wind energy could generate as much as 20 percent of electricity and create around 250,000 jobs. Alternative energy is seen as a window to open job opportunities too and might strengthen a weak economy.
Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget for next fiscal year that Congress is hashing out calls for $15 billion each year for ten years to develop clean energy including wind power, solar power, geothermal energy, and clean coal technology.
The Vice President Joe Biden showed his commitment to clean energy by declaring $300 million in funding from the stimulus package for state and local governments, and transit authorities. This $300 million funding is to expand their fleets of clean and sustainable vehicles. He stated that city and states governments should work tirelessly for green energy considering every day as Earth Day. He elaborated by stating, “From advanced battery cars to hybrid-electric city buses, we’re going to put Recovery Act dollars to work deploying cleaner, greener vehicles in cities and towns across the nation that will cut costs, reduce pollution and create the jobs that will drive our economic recovery.”
Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis were writing an op-ed piece that was published in many regional newspapers too. They voiced their concern over depleting oil reserves and worsening environmental conditions. They think that development of clean and renewable energy will be the hallmark of growth in the current century. They also warned the corporations that polluting the environment will invite stern action. President Obama and his team visualize a future where America can be a leading exporter of the technology of clean and green energy in the world.
The President voiced his opinion on automobiles too. He asked for the same enthusiasm for automobile industry that is being shown for generation of clean electricity for home and businesses. He said automobile industry can’t survive by using the technology of the past. The industry has to be forward looking. He elaborates, “…for decades, fuel economy and fuel economy standards have stagnated, leaving American consumers vulnerable to the ebb and flow of gas prices. When gas prices spike up like they did last summer, suddenly the market for American cars plummets because we build SUVs. That’s it. It leaves the American economy ever more dependent on the supply of foreign oil.”
Ending America’s dependence on foreign oil is the prime concern of many politicians including President Obama. That’s why Obama sees advanced biofuels and ethanol, as an important transitional fuel that may help reduce oil dependence and are clean, homegrown sources of energy as well.
President Obama has not forgotten to mention his government’s interest in fundamental and basic research going on in alternative energy. He is of the opinion that these researches may not pay off immediately but in the long run they will be decisive for clean energy. That’s why Obama’s government has sanctioned the largest investment in basic research funding in the American history. He said, “That young guy in the garage designing a new engine or a new battery, that computer scientist who’s imagining a new way of thinking about energy, we need to fund them now, fund them early, because that’s what America has always been about: technology and innovation.”
