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

  • Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Interim Report

    Posted by Nancy Sutley on March 17, 2010 at 10:17 AM EDT

    Today, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released an interim progress report of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force.   The report outlines the Task Force’s progress to date and recommends key components to include in a national strategy on climate change adaptation.   The components include: integration of science into adaptation decisions and policy; communications and capacity building; coordination and collaboration; prioritization; a flexible framework for Agencies; and evaluation.  View the press release.

    Nancy Sutley is the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

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  • Interior Unveils New Ansel Adams Murals

    Posted by Secretary Ken Salazar on March 10, 2010 at 8:30 PM EDT

    I recently unveiled a series of magnificent murals that highlights the legacy of two of the greatest figures in U.S. Department of the Interior’s history, Secretary Harold Ickes and renowned photographer Ansel Adams. The murals represent 26 of the photos Ickes commissioned Adams to produce as part of the Department’s Mural Project of 1941.

    Ansel Adams Tetons

    Grand Teton, Snake River, Wyoming, National Archives no. 79-AAG-1 Ansel Adams

    On display in the main hallways of the first and second floors of the main Interior building, these stunning black-and-white photos convey the beauty Adams’ saw in our Department’s diverse mission, and include: a pair of Native American children; the eruption of Old Faithful; and the intricate network of power lines at Boulder Dam.

    Ickes and Adams first met in 1936, while attending a conference on the future of national and state parks.  Ickes was secretary of the Interior under President Franklin Roosevelt; Adams, a renowned photographer and president of the Sierra Club. The two immediately found a common bond in a deep love for the beauty of our nation’s land and a desire to see it conserve that land for future generations.

    In fact, Adams used his photographic talent to lead a successful campaign to save the Kings River area of the Sierra Nevada and have Congress designate it as Kings Canyon National Park.

    Ickes believed that the Interior building, which was completed in 1936, should be symbolic of the Department’s mission to manage and conserve our nation’s vast resources. So in 1941, he hired Adams to create a photographic mural for display in this building that reflected the Department’s mission: the beautiful land, the proper stewardship of our resources, and the people we serve.

    The attack on Pearl Harbor and our nation’s entry into World War II brought the project to a halt.  The more than 200 photographs that Adams took have been stored in the National Archives, but never printed or hung as murals.

    Now, with our installation of the murals, we are able to share with visitors from across the nation Ickes and Adams’ timeless vision for this Department — and how we are in the business of fulfilling that vision today.

    Ansel Adams Boulder Dam

    Boulder Dam Power Units, Colorado River, Nevada / Arizona Border, National Archives no. 79-AAB-5 Ansel Adams

    Ken Salazar is the Secretary of the Interior

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  • Live from Stanford: Secretary Chu on the Global Clean Energy Challenge

    Posted by Secretary Steven Chu on March 8, 2010 at 2:45 PM EDT

    What are the steps we must take as a nation to create new, clean energy jobs and ensure America’s long-term competitiveness? What are the consequences for our climate of inaction? How can science and technology offer us new and better choices – and how can America’s young people make a difference?

    Today, I’m returning to Stanford University, where I spent many years as a professor, to discuss these and many other issues with a great group of students. I’d like to invite you to watch my speech live here at 3:00PM Eastern time/noon Pacific, and then share your thoughts afterward on my personal Facebook page to continue the conversation.

    Free video streaming by Ustream

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  • Helping Homeowners Invest in Energy-Efficient Homes

    Posted by Jesse Lee on March 2, 2010 at 4:24 PM EDT

    Earlier today, after touring Savannah Tech, President Obama announced the initiatives for HOMESTAR, a program that offers incentives for people to make their homes more energy-efficient.

    The President explained that the new program will save families several hundred of dollars on utilities, make the economy less dependent on fossil fuels, create work for small businesses and contractors, and bring back construction jobs.

    Here's one of the best things about energy efficiency - it turns out that energy-efficient windows or insulation, those things are products that are almost exclusively manufactured right here in the United States of America.  It's very hard to ship windows from China. So a lot of these materials are made right here in America.

    President Obama Greets Workers in Savannah 03.02

    President Barack Obama stops to greet workers as he tours the Chatham Steel Company in Savannah, Ga., March 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

    Through the HOMESTAR Program, homeowners who make investments for energy-efficiency in their homes will be eligible to receive:

    • Direct rebates for energy-saving investments
    • 50 percent rebates for the cost of each upgrade up to $1500
    • Rebates up to $3000 for those who choose to retrofit their whole homes
    • Guaranteed quality installations through quality assurance providers who would conduct field audits after work is completed
    • Support for financing through State and local governments

    President Obama explained that these short-term investments will lead to long-term savings for homeowners and consumers.

    Just like a responsible homeowner will invest in their homes in the near term to fortify their economic security in the long term, we’ve got to do the same as a country.  It will have some costs on the front end -- you buy a new boiler, or you get some insulation, or you get some new windows, that's going to have an initial cost, and the same is true from a government perspective.  And it’s going to be politically difficult to do some of this, but it’s what’s right to plan for our future. 

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  • "Trying to Hit Home Runs, Not Base Hits"

    Posted by Secretary Steven Chu on March 2, 2010 at 11:12 AM EDT

    Education in FocusToday in Washington, we're hosting the first-ever ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit.  We're bringing together some of our nation's brightest minds in science, engineering, and business to focus on tackling the energy problem.  Through the ARPA-E program, we are funding cutting-edge technologies that could provide game-changing breakthroughs.  We're trying to hit home runs, not base hits.

    This video showcases one of the projects we funded in the first round of applications: Sun Catalytix.  Sun Catalytix is developing a unique technology that mimics photosynthesis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.  Check it out:

    Viewing this video requires Adobe Flash Player 8 or higher. Download the free player.

     

    Steven Chu is Secretary of Energy

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  • President Obama Talks Housing, Jobs, and Leadership in Nevada

    Posted by Jesse Lee on February 19, 2010 at 7:59 PM EDT

    During his visit to a town hall in Henderson Nevada, President Obama announced new efforts to stabilize the housing market by buying vacant homes and converting them into affordable housing that will create jobs, help the housing crisis, and allow the local economy to grow.  He also announced a $1.5 billion fund for housing finance agencies in Nevada and other hard-hit states to help unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosures.  The fund will also help struggling homeowners find a way to pay their mortgages and modify their loans.

    He recalled the steps the government has already taken to stem the housing crisis, by providing tax credits to 1.4 million Americans buying their first homes, as well as a loan modification initiative to lower monthly payments for struggling homeowners.

    He went on to discuss another issue on everyone’s minds: jobs. He highlighted the steps the government has taken to preserve jobs, and will continue taking to create them. He mentioned how the Recovery Act has helped to save jobs that would have otherwise been lost, expanded unemployment insurance, and cut taxes for the American people.

    The President discussed the escalating need for health care reform to increase coverage while lowering overall health care costs, especially when people are seeing rapidly rising premiums and risk losing their coverage.

    What we're proposing has nothing to do with a government takeover of a health care.  Most of you would have the exact same health care that you've got right now, but you'd be more protected and more secure.  And if you don't have health care, you'd have a chance of getting health care. And, by the way, it would actually save us money in the long term, because all those wasteful dollars that we're spending right now, the experts estimate we'd actually save a trillion dollars by passing it.

    President Obama Listen to Senator Reid in Nevada

    President Barack Obama listens as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaks during a town hall meeting at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nev. February 19, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

    During the discussion with the audience he also made a forceful case for handling climate change by capping carbon and the benefits of a clean energy economy.  He pointed out that other countries are already moving in that direction, and America shouldn't be left behind, using the issue as a prime example of what American leadership can really mean.

    What does it mean to lead?  It means countries that out-educate us today are going to out-compete us tomorrow.  And that means America has to lead in education.  That's why we're working with educators to transform our schools, and make college more affordable, and prepare our kids for science and engineering and technical degrees -- because those are going to be the jobs of the future.

    And because the future belongs to countries that create the jobs of tomorrow, we've got to lead in energy.  That's why we're investing in companies right here in Nevada and across this nation that produce solar power and wind power and the smart, energy-efficient electric grids the investments that are giving rise to a clean energy economy.  It's vital that we do that.    

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