Archive - Jun 25, 2009

Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (and former 1Sky board member!) demonstrates in this video that weatherizing homes will be a major source of jobs. Check it out:

Earlier today, President Obama urged the House to pass H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The President's remarks are not yet online but I'll link to them when they are. Here's an excerpt:

The energy bill before the House will finally create a set of incentives that will spark a clean energy transformation in our economy. It will spur the development of low carbon sources of energy – everything from wind, solar, and geothermal power to safer nuclear energy and cleaner coal. It will spur new energy savings, like the efficient windows and other materials that reduce heating costs in the winter and cooling costs in the summer. And most importantly, it will make possible the creation of millions of new jobs.

Make no mistake: this is a jobs bill.

I've included Obama's remarks in full below. And if you haven't already, take action now to help strengthen and pass this bill!

By now you probably know that we expect a vote on the clean energy bill this Friday. It looks like there is progress on at least one (and possibly more) provisions to strengthen the bill.

We’ve heard that Reps. Dina Titus (NV-3), Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), and Martin Heinrich (NM-1) will offer an amendment that will extend the limit to 20 years for acquisition of electricity generated from a renewable energy resource for the federal government. The Titus/Giffords/Heinrich provision would require allocation of $4 billion- $2 billion for the score of extension of power purchase agreements, and $2 billion for the procurement of further renewables and efficiency. Additionally, the amendment establishes a renewable energy standard for federal agencies that is consistent with the RES that is established for utility companies in the underlying bill. This means more energy savings!

Here's the full text of the amendment in PDF format.

We will be working to help pass the Titus/Giffords/Heinrich amendment, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act. We’ve also heard that President Barack Obama is working the House energy bill, trying to win votes for passage Hawaii style, he is having a luau for the lawmakers and the announced plans are that he will be lobbying members to pass the energy bill.