Obama’s Executive Order Enforces Smart Energy
President Obama has just signed an Executive Order that compels the largest consumer of energy in the US economy to invest in energy efficiency improvements to get to huge reductions in energy use by 2020.
Every Federal agency must measure, manage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet specific targets by 2020. They have just 90 days to lay out a plan to meet these targets:
1. Use 30% less gas by 2020. Federal agencies buy 750,000 new vehicles every year. In normal times that’s almost 1 in every 17 vehicles sold per year. This Executive Order creates a rock-solid certain market for fuel-efficient vehicles every year from now till 2020.
2. Design all new government buildings from 2020 to be net-zero energy. Wow! Jimmy Carter might have gotten just a few solar panels up on merely one government building; The White House. But this means every new government building goes solar to cut fossil energy use to zero.
And they won’t just want solar power. They’ll need efficient windows, geothermal ground heat exchanges, efficient air conditioning, solar hot water heating, radiant flooring, tankless water heaters, great insulation… (and all this will take retrained architects, and doing that will take new classes, and those will need new instructors, who’ll need new suits…this is going to be a green jobs boom!)
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How huge is this? Between all the Federal Agencies, from the Department of Defense to the Department of Justice, this involves almost 2 million Americans who collectively spend $500 billion every year.
While there’s not much even a president can do to force knuckledragging Senators to vote the way renewable energy voters might like them to on climate and energy, there are some powers available to the presidency, and President Obama uses them. Steven Chu at the DOE is one. He has turned the DOE into a renewable energy powerhouse. Lisa Jackson at the EPA is another. She seems to be shutting down dangerous polluters weekly.
Apparently the Executive Order can be a power for Good too.
Source: whitehouse.gov via The Washington Post
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YES! this is a great start!
Don’t stop now, keep going Obama!
Very Good! Now, two more items. First, mandate all states to put in place residential and small business solar systems. And second, create a long term feed in tarrif for renewables like Germany has had and Ontario has recently imposed. This will allow renewable energies to come to the forefront and stay. Let’s make the USA be the world leader in smart energy.
Way to go, President OBama.
Can we please focus on clean energy developments without bashing those who believe that massive increases in federal spending might not be the greatest idea right now.
this is a very good step! great job….
Nice. Some positive steps in the right direction.
This is the best development so far.
The EPA and DOE are doing great now.
America focused on Greening its Economy can be THE world leader in smart, clean energy.
Using soft power to regain the admiration of other countries too.
Keep going President Obama, Stephan Chu , Lisa Jackson and Team!
Excellent news, and cheer-inducing. There is much more to do; hopefully the delay is simply doing the needed homework and concensus-building. The president of the US properly has limits to his/her powers, but to the extent Obama can use executive orders as a force for good, so much the better.
I am not a democrate but I love Obama! Rock on baby, keep up the great work on the environment and renewable energy and I will vote for you again!
Let’s get green!
Nice sound bite! Now for the easy part for Obama - for others to do something about it.
I think Obama (forget Biden) is better than McCain/Palin for sure but Obama does announce things to grand fanfare! Kind of like McCain pointed out during the elections.
There have been solar panels of various types on the White House every since Carter - replaced and renewed and added on to.
If you go looking for information on what is happening in energy conservation on European web sites - forget it unless you want to pay.
Info in the US is available to the world - generally free of charge.
The only thing I see done in Europe is talk and blowing money on FIT’s they are now backing off from.
Like normal though, the Cleantechnica groupies are there with all the ohs! and ahs! Not even necessary for many to read the article or think - just clap!
The ohs! and ahs! are relief, Russ.
Only someone familiar with the bogged-down morass of our political system now - that prevents any real change happening, can understand.
Using the Executive Order is the perfect way around that lobbyist-clogged bog.