In a blog post today, the White House publicly reaffirmed its commitment to not only develop clean energy, but to win the global race in the sector.
“It’s not enough for our country to invent clean energy technologies – we have to make them and use them too. Invented in America, made in America, and sold around the world – that’s how we’ll create good jobs and lead in the 21st century,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu, quoted by White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer on the White House blog.
“There is an economic opportunity worth trillions of dollars for whichever countries claim the lead,” Pfeiffer wrote.
The post came in response to Tuesday morning comments by Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, on NPR that doubted whether the US could compete with China on solar and wind manufacturing.
“This comment reflects exactly the sort of counterproductive defeatism that Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned against this weekend when he spoke to a group of America’s most promising young solar innovators,” Pfeiffer wrote (hyperlink in original post).
In the post, Pfeiffer was particularly optimistic on the potential in the solar industry, noting that–according to a recent SEIA report–the US is currently a net global exporter of solar photovoltaic components.
Read the full blogpost here.
Photo Caption: (Left-Right) White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, Deputy White
House Communications Director Jen Psaki, Senior Advisor to the President David Plouffe and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney listen to U.S. President Barack Obama during a news conference in the East Room of the White House June 29, 2011 in Washington, DC.
