Post from Elizabeth Chan's Blog: Investing in the Power of Clean Energy

Post from Elizabeth Chan's Blog:

Investing in the Power of Clean Energy

By Elizabeth Chan - May 26, 2010 6:28:33 PM ET

Earlier today President Obama was in Fremont, California, touring the facilities of Solyndra Inc., a solar-panel manufacturer and recipient of a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

The President noted that California was hit hard by the financial crisis—but steps the administration took in the wake of the crisis helped to keep Americans on their feet.

We took a series of steps to stop what was nothing short of an economic freefall. We passed a series of tax cuts to put more money in the pockets of working families right away—including more than 12 million families in California. We increased the Pell Grant—which brought $4 million of additional aid to students right here in Fremont. We backed loans to small businesses—including $20 million to companies in this community alone.

We also provided relief for those hardest hit—who not only needed help but would most likely use the relief to generate more economic activity. So we extended unemployment benefits for more than 3 million California residents and made COBRA cheaper for people who’d lost their jobs, so they could keep their health care for their families. We provided $250 in relief to more than 5 million California seniors –many whose life savings had taken a big hit in the financial crisis. And we provided emergency assistance to our governors to prevent teachers and police officers and firefighters from being laid off as a result of state budget shortfalls. At a time when California is facing a fiscal crisis, we know that this has saved the jobs of tens of thousands of educators and other needed public servants just in this state. And what was true in California was true all across the country.

It was equally important to “go back to basics,” the President noted—investing in research, broadband networks, roads, bridges, and clean energy, not only to promote hiring in the short term, but also because  “it would create jobs in sectors with incredible potential to propel our economy for years, for decades to come.”

The President said that in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf, investing in clean energy technologies—such as the solar panels produced by Solyndra Inc.—is more urgent than ever.

We’re providing grants to build wind farms and install these solar panels, helping us double our ability to generate renewable energy. We’re expanding our capacity in biofuels to reduce our dependence on oil. We’ve helped forge one historic agreement—and are on track to produce a second – to dramatically increase the fuel efficiency of America’s cars and trucks. So we are making progress. It’s progress that’s going to produce jobs, that’s going to help secure our future.

President Obama illustrated that progress with two examples, telling the audience that prior to the Recovery Act, the United States produced just 2 percent of the world’s advanced vehicle batteries.  In the next five years, the country will be capable of turning out 40 percent. And before the Recovery Act, the U.S. produced  5 percent of the world’s solar panels, but through investment in companies such as Solyndra, in a few years, that output will double.

But there’s more work to be done, much of it in Washington. The President told those assembled that he’s going to fight to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation this year, “because what we want to do is create incentives that will fully unleash the potential for jobs and growth in this sector.

The future is here. We’re poised to transform the ways we power our homes and our cars and our businesses. And we’re poised to lead our competitors in the development of new technologies and products and businesses. And we are poised to generate countless new jobs, good-paying middle-class jobs, right here in the United States of America.

That’s the promise of clean energy.