Posted by David Sandalow What two countries lead the world in energy consumption, energy production and greenhouse gas emissions? The United States and China. Can our two countries work together to help lead the world in a transition to clean energy? A recent announcement by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is an important step in that direction. [...]
Posted by Chris Lu Over the past week, we’ve been remembering the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, highlighting the progress made, and restating the Administration’s commitment to the region. This past weekend, several members of the Cabinet, the First Lady and President Obama traveled to the Gulf Coast, where the President spoke about the stories of communities [...]
Posted by Secretary Ray LaHood It’s difficult to look back on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina with anything but sadness. Sadness for the lives lost, sadness for the displacement of so many people. As we mark the fifth anniversary of Katrina, there is still work to be done. And the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) [...]
Posted by Secretary Arne Duncan Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina destroyed schools throughout New Orleans. Since then, the state and city have worked together to make the city’s schools a model for school reform. New Orleans schools have made remarkable progress. They have been an inspiration to those of us who are working to provide [...]
Posted by Dan Leistikow Yesterday, Vice President Biden visited a New Hampshire homeowner and announced that more than 200,000 homes have been weatherized as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, helping families across the nation cut their energy bills. The Associated Press ran an article today critical of the announcement and suggesting – incorrectly – [...]
Posted by Secretary Janet Napolitano As we approach the fifth anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it’s important to note how far our nation has come in improving our ability to respond to and recover from disasters and the progress we’ve made in helping our Gulf Coast recover from one of the worst natural disasters in [...]
Posted by Secretary Hilda Solis Shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, I traveled there with other members of Congress. We flew in helicopters to survey entire neighborhoods submerged in dirty water. Those neighborhoods not underwater were abandoned. We toured the 9th Ward and saw the broken levees. Trash was everywhere. We visited hospitals jammed to [...]
Posted by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius We can’t look back on the five years since Hurricane Katrina ripped through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama’s Gulf Coast communities without recognizing the extraordinary determination of the people who live there. When the wind subsided and the clouds cleared, more than 1800 people had lost their lives; and property damage was [...]
Posted by Andy Oare Today Vice President Biden announced that 200,000 homes have been weatherized under the Recovery Act. Cathy Zoi, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy shares her thoughts: We’re still talking about weatherization on Facebook and Twitter. Ask questions, share your thoughts and we’ll follow-up with tips and answers from our experts in [...]
Posted by Administrator Karen Mills Tommy and Maria DeLaune are a prime example of small business owners who suffered a one-two punch from Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater BP oil spill. They run Tommy’s Seafood, a New Orleans seafood processor and wholesaler that employs about 20 people. When Hurricane Katrina hit, the business suffered major damage [...]
Posted by Administrator Craig Fugate Five years ago, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated communities across the Gulf Coast. Five years later, the communities are still working to recover and rebuild from the destruction and damage wrought by those storms. We know these efforts have been incredibly challenging and frustrating at times, but they have also been [...]
Posted by Secretary Shaun Donovan Five years ago, one of the most destructive natural disasters in our nation’s history hit the Gulf Coast. When they hit the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita took thousands of lives, displaced millions of residents, wiped out hundreds of square miles of coastal land, and inflicted major [...]
Posted by Chris Lu This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and provides an opportunity to remember what was lost, celebrate what has been regained, and restate our commitment to the Gulf region and to all those still working to rebuild lives and communities. The Obama Administration remains deeply committed to serving the [...]
Posted by Cathy Zoi One of the best and most exciting parts of my job is helping make homes and businesses more efficient. Why? The places where we live and work consume 40% of the energy we use in the U.S. Through tune-ups to existing homes or new construction, doing more while using less energy is [...]
Posted by Secretary Shaun Donovan The Recovery Act is making a long-term impact on American families and communities by reducing energy costs, creating green jobs and improving the quality of life for people across the country. That’s why on Thursday, I was proud to announce a major Recovery Act milestone for HUD and the Administration. Through [...]
Posted by Arun Chaudhary Thanks for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that’s happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, travel with the First Family to Panama City Beach, Florida for a weekend of swimming, mini-golf, and meeting with local business owners. Next up, the President hits the road travelling to Milwaukee, [...]
Posted by Katelyn Sabochik Yesterday, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Dr. Jane Lubchenco, dropped by the White House for a live chat on the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. You can check out the full video of the [...]
Posted by Katelyn Sabochik Read the Transcript | Download Video: mp4 (115MB) | mp3 (11MB) Today, President Obama travelled to Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin to visit the ZBB Energy Corporation’s manufacturing facility. ZBB Energy Corporation manufactures advanced zinc bromide flow batteries and intelligent control platforms. These are crucial components of building a smart energy grid and expanding the commercialization electric [...]
Posted by Nikki Sutton The First Family traveled to Florida’s Gulf Coast today to spend the weekend in Panama City Beach, Florida. The President and First Lady joined area small business owners and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus for a roundtable discussion of the recovery. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hold a round [...]
Posted by Kori Schulman During the First Family’s visit to Panama City Beach to meet with local business owners and officials and to encourage Americans to enjoy the Gulf Coast beaches, the President and Sasha go for a swim at Alligator Point: President Barack Obama and daughter Sasha swim at Alligator Point in Panama City [...]
Posted by Victor Der Each year energy-related carbon dioxide emissions account for more than 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. According to the Energy Information Association, that adds up to over 5,814 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon in 2008 alone. The Obama administration recognizes that this is not sustainable and that’s why [...]
Posted by Katelyn Sabochik On Monday, 2 PM EDT, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr. Jane Lubchenco will host a live chat to answer your questions about the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. The men and women of the Gulf who make their livelihood harvesting fish, shrimp, and oysters [...]
Posted by Arun Chaudhary Welcome to a special Gulf Coast episode of West Wing Week. We spent this week traveling through communities on America’s Gulf Coast to give you a special behind the scenes look at the federal government’s historic and unprecedented effort to contain and clean up after the BP oil spill. Join responders [...]
Posted by Heather Zichal Today, a panel of government scientists released a report which said that the vast majority of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or dispersed much of which is in the process of being degraded. A significant amount of this is [...]
Posted by Kristina M. Johnson We invest in our country’s small businesses because small businesses invest back in our economy. With small businesses creating nearly two out of every three net new jobs, you probably have a friend, neighbor or family member who makes their livelihood by working for a small business. These employees enter an [...]
Posted by Secretary Shaun Donovan Last week, I spoke at two events that helped underscore the extent to which President Obama’s Recovery Act is paving the way for a clean energy economy. Before an audience of green affordable housing developers at the Communities of the Institute for Professional and Executive Development (IPED) annual conference, I highlighted [...]
Posted by Phil Larson In a speech at the National Urban League yesterday, President Obama talked about the importance of getting students enthused about education and the particular importance of science and mathematics education. Well, there is no better example of how to generate that kind of enthusiasm—all the while helping to make renewable-energy vehicles more practical—than [...]
Posted by Secretary Ray LaHood Cross posted from the DOT blog. Today was a great day to be in Colorado. First, I toured a Federal Railroad Administration facility–the work the FRA crew is doing there really deserves its own blog post, so stay tuned for that one next week. Then, I learned about an exciting new municipal [...]
Posted by Heather Zichal Yesterday, we hosted a lively forum at the White House, which brought more than 130 stakeholders– civilian and uniformed officials from the Department of Defense (DOD) and our armed services, policy makers from the Department of Energy (DOE), think tanks, and business entrepreneurs – together for a discussion on the importance of [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Read the Transcript | Download Video: mp4 (62MB) | mp3 (6MB) In his latest meeting with Congressional leaders of both parties – a new tradition promised by the President in his State of the Union Address – the conversation was focused primarily on two topics. The first was help for small businesses, one of the [...]
Posted by Elizabeth Alexander Vice President Joe Biden is led on a tour of the boom repair area by Walt Dorn of Patriot Environmental Services, at the Theodore Staging Area in Alabama, July 22, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann) Today, Vice President Biden traveled to Theodore, Alabama to assess efforts to counter the [...]
Posted by Secretary Gary Locke Ed Note: Last Friday, Secretary Locke kicked off a Clean Energy Economy Forum on clean energy manufacturing at the White House. You can watch the video of the opening remarks below and the videos of the first and second panels on YouTube. Last Friday, I joined Obama administration colleagues and business leaders from across [...]
Posted by David Sandalow Ed. Note: Cross-posted from the brand new Energy Blog. Also check out the Department of Energy’s newFacebook and Twitter accounts launched today. Today marks the second and final day of the world’s first Clean Energy Ministerial. We want you to be part of it. That’s why we’re webcasting all of today’s proceedings as [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee It’s a small part of a big story that will impact how the world travels for generations to come – and the role American workers will have in that transformation. This afternoon the President is at a groundbreaking ceremony at Compact Power, Inc. a subsidiary of LG Chem Ltd., a battery [...]
Posted by Dr. Arun Majumdar The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is pursuing transformational solutions to our energy problems. Part of the Department of Energy, ARPA-E is modeled after the famed DARPA program at the Department of Defense that led to the internet, GPS, stealth airplane technology, and many other success stories. At ARPA-E, we are trying [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee Following up on his tour of Smith Electric’s new factory in Kansas City yesterday – an all-electric, zero emissions commercial truck manufacturer that received a $32 million Recovery Act grant – the President spoke today at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on the nexus of government, the emerging clean energy economy, and recovery: [...]
Posted by Secretary Steven Chu Energy investors and entrepreneurs often refer to the period between technologies being developed in the lab and making their way to the marketplace as a “valley of death” due to the multitude of factors that can prevent those advancements from reaching the consumer. Today, just miles from the real Death Valley [...]
Posted by Secretary Hilda Solis If you want to get a glimpse of the future, talk to Riki Escamilla. This super-energetic Denver woman has big dreams for a “prosperous future for me, and my family.” I have no doubt she’ll get there. Riki is participating in the Denver Green Jobs Initiative, a terrific program that provides free [...]
Posted by Nancy Sutley Occasionally, I get the chance to see some of the work underway in communities across the country that will help to propel the United States toward a thriving clean-energy economy. Yesterday was one of those days in the clean tech hub of Silicon Valley, California, where I toured Nanosolar, Cisco Systems, and [...]
Posted by Jesse Lee As part of the explosion of Recovery Act projects this summer and as a move towards a clean energy future, the President announces nearly $2 billion in conditional commitments to key solar companies. Learn more from the White House fact sheet. Read the Transcript | Download Video: mp4 (143MB) | mp3 (5MB)
