What Obama’s Energy Speech Means for Cleantech

Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama laid out a vision of America’s energy future yesterday in a speech from Lansing, Mich., in the automotive heartland. Speaking at Michigan State University, Obama presented his New Energy for America Plan in which he added several new concrete goals for America’s energy future and reiterated a number of previous stances.

One of Obama’s carefully phrased new goals needs some parsing: “[I]n 10 years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela.” It’s important to note that “the Middle East and Venezuela” represented just 30 percent of America’s oil imports last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Still, a third of the $700 billion we pay to import oil annually is a start.

Obama’s plan to achieve this goal comprises three steps, dispersing $150 billion over 10 years to build a new energy future:

1. Put 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, made in America, on the road by 2015.Obama proposes granting $4 billion in loans and tax credits to the sputtering American auto industry to retool its assembly lines. This proposal was released concurrently with a new ad by the Obama camp that blasts McCain for wanting to give $4 billion in tax breaks to the oil industry. Obama also wants to see a $7,000 tax credit for consumers buying these plug-in electrics.
2. Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.By extending the production tax credit to five years, Obama hopes to boost wind, solar and geothermal energy production. He reiterated his goal to produce 6 billion gallons of “sustainable, affordable biofuels” by 2022. Obama also lumped clean-coal into his list of clean energies and called for five test facilities with carbon capture and sequestration technology. He also made mention of researching nuclear waste disposal. To spur all this innovation he promised “billions in loans and capital to entrepreneurs who are willing to create clean energy businesses and clean energy jobs right here in America.” Lastly, to clean our electricity, Obama wants to invest an undisclosed sum in upgrading our electrical grid.
3. Reduce America’s need for electricity 15 percent by 2020. Through energy efficiency programs, Obama says we can save $130 billion on energy bills. Obama complimented California, land of the rolling blackout, for its leadership in restructuring utility economics: “We’ll follow the lead of California and change the way utilities make money so that their profits aren’t tied to how much energy we use but how much energy we save.”