Energy policy of the Barack Obama administration

Many of the Obama administration's were undertaken as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and many of those investments were specifically in clean energy. According to a report by Clean Edge: The Clean Tech Marketing Authority, the recovery act included more than $70 billion in tax credits and direct spending for programs involving clean energy and transportation.[10]

The White House website stated that the recovery act provided more than $80 billion in clean energy investments:[11]

• $111 billion for a smart grid to connect rural energy-producing sites with cities, and smarter use of energy within homes,
• $55 billion to weatherize low-income homes,
• $41.5 billion to reduce the federal government's own energy bill by making federal buildings more energy efficient,
• $62.3 billion to support state and local energy efforts,
• $6000 million (six billion to keep continuity with other numbers)train people for green jobs, and
• $29 billion to promote investments in battery storage technologies.

Clean Edge lists other recent policies of the Obama Administration to support the clean energy sector in the U.S.:[12]

• Extending the investment tax credit for solar energy,
• Extending the production tax credit for wind energy,
• Allowing utilities to participate in income tax credits, and
• Allowing renewable energy developers to receive government grants instead of tax credits.

In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama called for a goal, "By 2035, 80 percent of America's electricity will come from clean energy sources."[13]

In January 2017, President Obama published an article arguing that private-sector incentives will help drive decoupling of emissions and economic growth. He called this the irreversible momentum of clean energy, which he argued would occur independently of the near-term policy choices of the Trump presidency.[14]

In a speech on March 31, 2010 at Andrews Air Force Base, President Obama outlined a new energy security plan. The president's plan includes initiatives such as raising fuel efficiency standards. He also announced a decision to double the number of hybrid vehicles in the federal government's fleet, and made a decision to expand domestic offshore oil and gas exploration in Alaska, the southern and mid-Atlantic Coast, and parts of the Gulf of Mexico offshore from Florida.[17]

Following up on Obama's speech, the White House blog released a statement on how the administration plans to boost domestic energy production, diversify America's energy portfolio, and promote clean energy innovation with three tactics:

• Landmark car and truck fuel standards
• Leading by example - Greening the federal fleet
• Department of Defense energy security strategic emphasis[18]

Since 2008 American oil production has increased by 70%, mostly due to drilling on private or State lands (not Federal).[19]

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) wrote recommendations on how to improve upon the energy security plan. In 2009, CNAS and its author, Christine Parthemore "convened a group of scientists, investors, business executives, academics, nonprofit representatives, defense professionals, and federal, state, and local officials to discuss how to implement President Obama’s energy and climate security goals."[20]

CNAS recommended three strategies for the administration to help move forward with the energy security plan:

• Draft a comprehensive national strategy,
• Link that strategy to a major, systems-level demonstration project for a future, low-carbon energy economy, and
• Create a scorecard to track progress and capture lessons learned from the historical level of federal investment in energy and climate security.

• Climate change policy of the Obama administration