US State of the Union 2014: A Back Seat for Renewable Energy New Hampshire, USA --Broader domestic social issues and an international policy that moves away from a permanent war footing took center stage in President Obamas State of the Union address (SOTUS) last night. Domestic energy policies, including renewable energy, largely took a back seat to the Presidents bigger talking points: hiking the minimum wage for federal contractors, urging final immigration reforms, strong pushes in employment and job-training, education, retirement savings, and healthcare. After a brief initial tidbit -- how more oil now is produced at home than we buy from the rest of the world for first time in nearly 20 years -- domestic energy wasnt mentioned until the half-hour mark, when President Obama referred to the success of his all of the above energy strategy. One reason, he said, is because of natural gas which he called the bridge fuel that can power our economy with reduced carbon pollution, and he pledged to assist what he described as nearly $100 billion being invested in new factories that use natural gas. The other reason is renewable energy, and specifically the U.S. global leadership role in solar, he said, pointing out that a new home or business gets solarized every four minutes -- and every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job cannot be outsourced. (Those jobs are growing tenfold the national average, a just-released study found.) President Obama also urged attention to tax reform specifically to benefit renewables. Lets continue that progress with a smarter tax policy that stops giving $4 billion a year to fossil fuel industries that dont need it, so we can invest more in the fuels of the future that do, he said. Presumably this was a reference to proposed U.S. energy tax reforms, but how much those proposals are changed or revised, and how soon in an Congressional election year, probably wont be known for months. Nevertheless that was enough of a foothold for several groups to urge more action in their post-SOTUS reactions. Peter Kelley, AWEAs VP of Public Affairs, noted how far wind energy prices have come down and its contribution to the power grid has gone up, and both should continue so long as there is continued policy support. renewableenergyworld/rea/news/article/2014/01/us-state-of-the-union-2014-a-back-seat-for-renewable-energy
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:47:27 +0000
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