Energy, Climate Change
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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.

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  • Building Momentum

    Posted by Jeff Zients and Brian Deese on June 27, 2012 at 5:11 PM EDT

    As of this week, more than 100 public and private sector partners have come together through President Obama’s Better Buildings Challenge which supports job creation by catalyzing private sector investment in commercial and industrial building energy. Just yesterday, 36 new States, local governments, and school districts joined the growing list of partnerships that are proving how modernizing our country’s buildings to become more energy efficient creates jobs, cuts energy costs, and reduces pollution. Combined, these commitments bring the total square footage of buildings enrolled in this public-private partnership to 2 billion, the equivalent of more than 34,000 football fields.

    This announcement also adds $300 million in new estimated investments in building energy upgrades to the nearly $4 billion in public and private sector financial commitments that were announced in December 2011.

    Last year, commercial buildings consumed roughly 20 percent of all the energy used by the U.S. economy. With the help of former President Clinton and the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, President Obama’s Better Building’s Challenge will help make America’s buildings 20 percent more efficient over the next decade, while reducing energy costs for American businesses by nearly $40 billion.

    The Federal government is also committed to creating jobs and cutting costs by investing in energy efficiency in Federal buildings. Since President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum last December directing Federal agencies to invest at least $2 billion in two years in building energy efficiency, agencies have identified $2.1 billion in such projects – all paid for with savings through energy savings performance contracts with no up-front cost to taxpayers.

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  • Announcing the Winners of the Youth Sustainability Challenge

    Posted by Susan Ruffo on June 21, 2012 at 9:00 AM EDT

    Right now, representatives from around the world are gathering at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, to take part in a global conversation about sustainability and economic growth. The Obama Administration believes that engaging and harnessing the energy and creativity of the world’s youth is critical for long-term sustainability. Innovative ideas and actions often originate from young people around the world, and have the potential to inspire a new generation to help build a more sustainable and prosperous future. Accordingly, the U.S. is making every effort to involve youth as a core part of our sustainability efforts. 

    That’s why we launched our first ever Youth Sustainability Video Challenge. Our hope was to showcase how youth are already playing an important role in the sustainability conversation. In early May, Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, challenged youth from around the country to tell the world what they are doing in their communities to foster sustainability and help create an America, and a world, built to last.

    The results are really quite impressive, and show how innovative young Americans are today. From high school students deploying a micro-grant program, to a young group of engineers creating a solar powered water purification system, the videos showcase a range of creative approaches to sustainability.

    Submitted videos were eligible for up to five awards reflecting innovation, contribution to sustainability, communication, and popular choice. After careful review by a panel of Administration officials, the winners are:

    • For best overall: “A Generation of Energy: Georgetown Energy”

    • For contribution to sustainability: “Every Day Actions, Enduring Results”

    • For success in communicating sustainability: “Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program”

    • For innovation: “Operation Gulliver International”

    • The popular choice (voted by the public on Challenge.gov): “Growth”

    Susan Ruffo is Deputy Associate Director for Climate Change Adaptation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality

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  • Another Step Forward Toward Energy Security

    Posted by Secretary Ken Salazar on June 20, 2012 at 5:05 PM EDT

    Today, the Obama administration is offering 39 million acres of the most oil- and gas-rich area of the Gulf of Mexico in order to increase the exploration and production of America’s domestic energy resources. This is a landmark sale – we estimate that up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil and 6.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be produced as a result of the acres leased. Holding this lease sale reinforces our commitment to increasing U.S. production, reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil, and incentivizing prompt development of the leases that industry holds. 

    The bottom line: it’s good news for American jobs, good news for the Gulf economy, and it’s good news for the President’s efforts to expand safe and responsible production of America’s abundant domestic resources. 

    Despite misleading rhetoric from some, the President has made clear he is committed to expanding oil and natural gas production safely and responsibly, and today’s sale is just the latest example of his administration delivering on that commitment. As part of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, this sale builds on a series of actions taken by the Obama administration, including additional lease sales in both onshore and offshore areas for oil and gas development. 

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  • Fighting to Protect American Families from Mercury Pollution

    Posted by Heather Zichal on June 19, 2012 at 1:23 PM EDT

    In December 2011, President Obama was proud to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had finalized the first-ever national standards to reduce mercury, arsenic, and other toxic air pollution from power plants. It was a watershed moment in the Administration’s ongoing efforts to protect the health of American families and the environment, through sensible and achievable standards that rely on technologies already deployed by industry.

    The public health benefits associated with the Administration’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) are enormous. By reducing emissions of toxic pollutants that lead to neurological damage, cancer, respiratory illnesses, and other serious health issues, these standards will benefit millions of people across the country. In fact, the total health and economic benefits to society could reach $90 billion each year.

    In spite of these benefits – and the long history of bipartisan support to limit toxic air emissions from the nation’s largest polluters – Senator Inhofe is leading the charge to block these critical standards. And here’s what makes the stakes even higher: if these efforts are successful, the EPA could be prevented from ever limiting mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants in the future – despite the fact that this requirement was initially signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush.

    Rarely does a single vote in Congress have the potential to undermine public health and the environment in such a profound and blatant way. For that reason, it’s important to cut through all of the misinformation.

    Here are the facts about the Obama Administration’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards:

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  • Celebrating Global Wind Day

    Posted by Christine Guhl, Associate Organizing Representative at Sierra Club on June 15, 2012 at 4:35 PM EDT

    Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Christine Guhl, Associate Organizing Representative at Sierra Club.

    What could be better than a day at the beach flying kites? What if we could harness the power of all that wind to create homegrown clean energy? That’s just what people around the world are asking today, on Global Wind Day. And here at the Jersey Shore, we’re showing that investing in clean, safe energy like offshore wind is important to ensure our economy is built to last.

    This Global Wind Day I’ll be joining other Garden State residents and families at local beaches to get wind em-powered with a kite-flying rally in support of offshore wind. I’ve lived in New Jersey my entire life and I want my state to be a leader in the clean energy economy by being one of the first in the U.S. to make offshore wind a reality. 

    New Jersey has 16,000 MW of offshore wind potential. That’s enough to power more than 4 million homes in our state alone. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the potential for offshore wind power in the U.S. is four times greater than the country's current total generating capacity from all sources.

    Global Wind Day

    Families celebrate Global Wind Day during a beautiful summer afternoon at the Jersey Shore. (Photo Credit: Sierra Club)

    The U.S. wind industry has already created more than 75,000 jobs and could support as many as 500,000 jobs by 2030. Here in New Jersey alone the wind industry already supports hundreds of jobs. New offshore wind installations would create real jobs for people who need them now.

    Wind power’s economic and environmental benefits are worth celebrating. But Global Wind Day is not just about discussing New Jersey’s offshore wind potential.  It’s about calling on our leaders to turn that potential into action.

    We need strong leadership on the state and federal level to listen to Americans’ call for a clean energy future. President Obama has already recognized that wind power is an important part of the country’s energy mix. It’s up to the rest of our leaders to ensure that wind can live up to its potential. 

    The U.S. has not yet begun to tap into its offshore wind resources, but we’re looking to change that through our work on events like Global Wind Day. I hope next year we can celebrate Global Wind Day knowing that our homes are being powered with clean, safe, renewable energy from wind.

    Christine Guhl is Associate Organizing Representative at Sierra Club

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  • Supporting Appalachian Communities

    Posted by ARC Federal Co-Chair Earl F. Gohl on June 15, 2012 at 2:54 PM EDT

    Editor's Note: This blog introduces readers to Earl F. Gohl, Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

    Throughout the Appalachian Region there is an incredible group of folks who get up each day and work to make their communities better places for their kids and grandkids. These folks have a variety of hopes and dreams, skills and talents; they are teachers, entrepreneurs, health care workers and myriad of other occupations and avocations. Meeting them, getting to know them, and seeing their energy, dedication and creativity is incredibly inspiring.

    The challenge for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is to figure out ways to partner with these “spark plugs” to support their work and help them achieve their dreams.

    The White House Rural Council provided ARC with a forum to do just this. Through the Rural Council ARC has developed the Livable Communities Initiative, a partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA RD) that provides technical assistance to small rural towns to help them develop and implement strategies for making their communities more livable and competitive. ARC has learned that early technical support and advice like this is often the critical piece of the development puzzle that provides the necessary boost to help a community succeed. Seven Appalachian communities will be receiving this Livable Communities technical assistance support.

    Recently I had the opportunity to visit with the leaders of three Appalachian communities who requested and were selected to receive this technical assistance. The towns of Uhrichsville in Ohio, and Connellsville and Brownsville in Pennsylvania have all devised ways to take what they already have, whether unused buildings or parking lots, and turn them into community assets.

    Brownsville

    Earl Gohl meets with a group of local high school student leaders in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. (Photo Credit: Herald-Standard)

    I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, where the proposal was initiated by a group of local high school students who were also recognized by the Jefferson Awards competition in April. It was their creative and entrepreneurial idea to transform a vacant lot into a traditional town square to revitalize and galvanize their downtown. One of the students told the local newspaper, “Brownsville is not what it once was. Our project hopes to bring back community spirit, to be a shot in the arm of adrenaline.” The above photo shows me with the students, and their teacher Kelli Dellarose. 

    Similar enthusiasm marked the work I saw in Uhrichsville and Connellsville, where a strong network of local partners, public and private, is committed to achieving the community’s vision. In each community, I was met by a large contingent of active and engaged project supporters. As Michael Edwards, executive director of the Connellsville Redevelopment Authority, said during my visit, the technical assistance provided by the ARC-EPA-USDA partnership was advancing a revitalization project on which “many organizations, community volunteers, and city officials have worked diligently.”

    Because of the work of the White House Rural Council, those student “sparkplugs” in Brownsville and enthusiastic community partners in Connellsville and Uhrichsville, as well as in communities across Appalachia, have a better opportunity to use local assets to achieve their dreams and create more vibrant local economies. I am looking forward to spending the next few months visiting with these Livable Communities winners and seeing how their visions come to life.

    Earl F. Gohl is the Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission

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