U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday called for more investments in clean energy industry, saying those investments will "not only boost our economy in the short run, but provide opportunities for growth in the long run."
Obama made the remarks during his trip to Kansas City, Missouri, where he visited Smith Electric Vehicles, an all-electric, zero emissions commercial truck manufacturer that received 32 million dollars in federal aid to build all-electric trucks.
"We expect energy investments alone to generate 700,000 jobs over the next few years," said the president. "That means jobs. But that also means we'll have the expertise in this sector to keep building and growing and innovating far into the future."
He noted that the U.S. had the capacity to build only 2 percent of the world's advanced batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles just a few years ago, but thanks to a new focus on clean energy, the country could have as much as 40 percent of the world's capacity to build these batteries in just five years.
The Obama administration has been trying to convince the public and lawmakers that clean energy could be tapped as a new engine for the U.S. economy, which is still struggling to recover from its worst recession since the 1930s.
Obama announced last week that the Energy Department is awarding nearly 2 billion dollars from a stimulus package to two solar companies, an effort to boost employment and solar power in the country.
A comprehensive energy and climate bill stands in the center of Obama's clean energy strategy. The bill, which cleared the House of Representatives last year, is now stalled in the Senate. Analysts doubted that it will ever get passed this year, as many lawmakers face battles pending the mid-term elections in November.
Source: Xinhua
