On June 25th, President Obama appeared before a crowd in Washington DC to discuss the second part of his plan to cut carbon emissions and utilize renewable energy sources. The President’s goal is to put into action and enforce many of the initiatives he set out to accomplish in his previous climate change plan. Obama plans to utilize solar energy in his strategy to decrease the dependence on fossil fuels.
The President elaborated his reasoning behind enforcing his climate change action plan when he said, “This plan begins with cutting carbon pollution by changing the way we use energy, using less dirty energy, using more clean energy and wasting less energy throughout our economy.”
Although President Obama was able to double the amount of renewable energy that was produced during his first term, he is determined to enforce new policies that will allow renewable energy to double from what it was in 2012; the President hopes to reach this goal by 2020. One of the policies the President would like to push into effect is to have all federal buildings receive 20% of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020.Obama feels it is important for the federal government to show their commitment to the climate change plan of action by setting an example for the commercial and utility sectors. Obama’s plan includes an effort to tighten standards in order to make an effort in reducing carbon emissions by 3 billion metric tons by 2030. The Department of Defense, which is one of the largest consumers of energy, has committed to the implementation of 3 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy, especially that of solar energy, by the year 2025.
Rhone Resch, who is the CEO and President of The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), showed his support for the President’s effort to cut carbon emission through the use of clean energy, when he said,
This is our moment in time. America’s solar energy industry stands ready to do our part to help fight climate change and usher in a new era of clean energy in America and around the world. Despite what some critics say, this isn’t a choice between clean energy and a robust economy. We can have both, and solar is showing how to make that possible. We commend the president for offering a bold, decisive plan to combat climate change and to mitigate the impacts of carbon pollution.
With more emphasis on the use of clean power and proposed legislation stemming from President Obama’s plan to cut carbon emissions, the solar industry expects to see a rise in solar installations across the country, especially with utility and commercial solar installations.
