Energy, Climate Change,
and Our Environment

The President has taken unprecedented action to build the foundation for a clean energy economy, tackle the issue of climate change, and protect our environment.

Energy and Environment Latest News

  • Meeting the President's Challenge on Clean Energy at the ARPA-E Summit

    Posted by Dr. Arun Majumdar on January 31, 2011 at 4:21 PM EDT

    Ed. Note: Cross posted from the Department of Energy blog.

    Last week, President Obama told us in his 2011 State of the Union address that “we need to out-innovate the rest of the world”, especially in clean energy technology. As it turns out, energy innovators across the country are already working on doing just that. Hundreds of these energy leaders will be converging at a conference that the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E)  is hosting one month from now.

    From February 28 – March 2, ARPA-E and partner organizations will host the second annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit at the Gaylord Convention Center, just outside Washington, DC. The event is designed to bring together key players from across the energy ecosystem – researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives and government officials – to share ideas for developing and deploying the next generation of clean energy technologies.

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  • Empowering American Clean Energy and Efficiency Businesses

    Posted by Secretary Gary Locke on January 28, 2011 at 4:30 PM EDT

    In this week’s State of the Union address, President Obama once again made it clear that one of his top priorities is ensuring U.S. global leadership in the emerging industries of clean energy  and energy efficiency.

    Clean energy not only represents one of the greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century, it is also critical to our nation's ability to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and clean up our environment. 

    To support entrepreneurs all across America who are developing clean energy and energy-efficient technologies – installing wind turbines and solar panels, developing improved batteries for hybrid cars and putting the pieces of the next generation electricity grid together – the  Department of Commerce is focused on several key areas.

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  • What You Missed: The State of the Union and the Economy

    Posted by Katelyn Sabochik on January 28, 2011 at 2:53 PM EDT

    Yesterday, Austan Goolsbee, Chair of the Council on Economic Advisers, sat down with MSNMoney, Mint.com and Examiner.com to answer questions from their readers about the economy and the President's State of the Union Address.  Check out the full video or use the links below to jump to your favorite questions.

    Download Video: mp4 (381MB) | mp3 (37MB)

    Includes Video
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  • Winning the Future, Proterra Style

    Posted by Secretary Ray LaHood on January 28, 2011 at 2:38 PM EDT

    Editor's Note: This was originally posted on the Department of Transportation's blog.

    Yesterday, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff and I toured the Greenville, South Carolina, bus manufacturing plant of Proterra, Inc.  And I don't think you could find a better demonstration of the American innovation President Obama invoked in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

    When the President said that America's small businesses need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build their competition, he must have had Proterra in mind.

    Employees at Proterra, Inc.

    Employees at Proterra, Inc., in Greenville, South Carolina. January 27, 2011. (by Department of Transportation)

    In 2009, Proterra did not have the financial resources or customer orders to commercialize its fast charge battery bus and charging station. Although FTA grants had helped support the company's fuel-cell research, they were unable to grow from a research and development company into an assembly line manufacturer of high technology vehicles.   

    But with help from Department of Transportation grants to transit agencies across the country, Proterra has been able to make that leap.

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  • West Wing Week: "To Build Stuff and Invent Stuff"

    Posted by Paul Wiley on January 28, 2011 at 1:00 AM EDT

    Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This week, the President delivered his State of the Union Address, focused on jobs and the economy, and he took those ideas on the road traveling to Upstate New York and Wisconsin.

    Learn more about the events featured in this week's video:

    January 21, 2011:

    January 24, 2011:

    January 25, 2011:

    January 26, 2011:

    January 27, 2011

     

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  • Our Plan to Put One Million Advanced Technology Vehicles on America’s Roads

    Posted by Brian Levine on January 26, 2011 at 7:37 PM EDT

    Last night, President Obama set a goal of making the United States the first country in the world to put one million advanced technology vehicles on the road. This goal is part of the President’s plan to rebuild our economy by investing in innovation to create the jobs and industries of the future.

    Vice President Biden Greenfield 2

    Vice President Joe Biden tours the Ener1 Inc. battery factory with Director of Manufacturing David Hahn and worker Wendy Howard in Greenfield, Indiana, Jan. 26, 2011. (Official White House photo by David Lienemann) January 26, 2011.

    Today, Vice President Biden visited Ener1, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced batteries for electric vehicles, in Greenfield, Indiana to announce our plan to reach this one million vehicle goal by 2015. The facility that the Vice President visited would not exist if not for a $118.5 million grant from the Department of Energy, which was part of a $2.4 billion Recovery Act investment in electric vehicles . Ener1 added 120 jobs across the company in 2010 and the future looks bright. They expect to expand the manufacturing and assembly operation in Greenfield from 80 workers today to over a thousand by the start of 2013.

    The Vice President got a first-hand look at Ener1’s assembly line and had a chance to chat with several workers. The Vice President was introduced by Wendy Howard, a mother of three, who joined Ener1 after being laid off from her previous job. Wendy proudly said that she now makes "hi-tech batteries for electric cars that don’t disturb the environment and don’t drink up oil that we don’t have."

    Vice President Biden Greenfield 1

    Vice President Joe Biden tours the Ener1 Inc. battery factory with CEO Charles Gassenheimer and COO Richard Stanley and is shown a THINK City, an electric car that uses Ener1 batteries, in Greenfield, Indiana, Jan. 26, 2011. (Official White House photo by David Lienemann) January 26, 2011.

    Wendy and her co-workers at Ener1 will surely benefit from the three-part plan that Vice President Biden announced today, which will support electric vehicle manufacturing and adoption in the United States through generous new consumer rebates, investments in research and development, and a new competitive program to encourage communities to knock down regulatory barriers and invest in electric vehicle infrastructure, like public charging stations. You can learn more about the plan here.

    As the Vice President said today, Ener1 and other companies like it are "building a brighter, cleaner, and more prosperous American future."

    Brian Levine is Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President

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