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President Obama Addresses DOE; Signs Energy Efficiency Memorandum
February 5, 2009
President Barack Obama today addressed the Department of Energy (DOE) at its Forrestal headquarters in Washington, D.C. The address stressed the importance of his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan and Energy and Environment Agenda.
According to Obama, the two combine to create new jobs for the American people and a formal energy policy for the United States.
“After decades of dragging our feet, this plan will finally spark the creation of a clean energy industry that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years, manufacturing wind turbines and solar cells for example, and millions more after that,” stated Obama. “These jobs and these investments will double our capacity to generate renewable energy over the next few years.”
The creation and distribution of renewable energy is essential to Obama’s plan, as are energy efficiency efforts. To this end, Obama emphasized the need for:
· Smart Grid Technology Adoption
· Greening Federal Buildings
· Modernizing Federal Vehicle Fleets
· Increasing Residential Energy Efficiency
“We’ll also lead a revolution in energy efficiency, modernizing more than 75% of Federal buildings and improving the efficiency of more than 2 million American homes,” continued Obama. “This will not only create jobs, it will cut the Federal energy bill by a third and save taxpayers $2 billion each year and save Americans billions of dollars more on their utility bills.”
Tying action to his words, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum to the Secretary of Energy earlier in the day. The memorandum asks the DOE to establish updated energy efficiency standards for several residential and commercial products.
A video and transcript of the President’s speech is available on the DOE Web site.
The Presidential Memorandum is available on the White House Web site.
The DOE Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) Web site contains additional information on greening Federal facilities and fleets. Information is also available on current energy efficiency product standards.
Contact FEMP for additional information.