The United States will get 80 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2035, said President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
To do this, Mr. Obama said the administration will prioritize investments in clean energy research and technologies. The United States will also compete firmly with countries such as China which is now home to the world’s largest private solar research facility.
“With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” said Mr. Obama.
More renewable energy, more advanced technology vehicles such as electrics, and a note on ending oil industry tax subsidies, in general sum up the part of Mr. Obama’s speech devoted to low-carbon.
Mr. Obama asked Congress to eliminate the billions of dollars in subsidies the United States government is giving to oil companies.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s,” he said.
With the reiteration on clean energy, which the Obama administration has made a point to promote since taking office, the focus on job generation through the sector was also mentioned.
Mr. Obama said another goal is to give clean energy businesses a guarantee that there will be a market for their products.
But the American Wind Energy Association, while generally welcoming Mr. Obama’s pronouncements, said the wind sector, as just one example, is “ready to go now.”
“We don’t need to wait nearly three decades,” the association said in a statement issued after the State of the Union address.
“By 2030 wind can be up to 20 percent of the electric supply all by itself, according to a study by the George W. Bush administration. And it insources [sic] jobs and investment into America. That’s what our industry is doing to make good on this national commitment to clean energy and economic growth,” AWEA statement read.
“We look forward to working with the new majority in the House and leaders in the Senate to diversify America’s energy portfolio and foster renewed economic growth.”
“The President rightly identified job creation as a national priority. However I am truly skeptical of his call for so-called targeted investments. Washington’s reckless spending habits, particularly in the last two years, have wrecked this economy,” said Timothy Johnson, a Republican representative for Illinois.
Mr. Johnson said the House Budget Committee “passed overwhelmingly a resolution directing its committees to cut federal spending to 2008 levels or less.”
However, slashing the budget to 2006 levels would mean 42 percent less for protecting the environment, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, an organization that studies federal budget issues.
“Republicans have a responsibility to work with us to create jobs instead of wasting time with pointless political stunts. I hope they will join us in finding common-sense solutions to the challenges we face as a nation – to rebuild our economy today and create the jobs of the future,” said Nevada Senator Harry Reid of the Democratic Party.
Last month, the government extended the 1603 Investment Tax Credit for renewable energy. Funding will thus be made available to clean energy developers through the 2009 Recovery Act, with grants that shoulder up to 30 percent of the total property cost of a commercial renewable energy installation.
