President Obama Discusses his Goals for the Department of Energy
February 06, 2009
President Barack Obama spoke to the staff and contractors of the U.S. Department of Energy on February 5 to share his thoughts on the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. He emphasized the need for bilateral support for a new approach to energy, through investment in a "smart" electrical grid, federal energy efficiency, and renewable energy to create jobs and support the economy.
As part of his speech, the president said that he had signed a presidential memorandum to the Secretary of Energy requesting that DOE push to meet deadlines for finalizing residential appliance standards. The memorandum calls for five rules—which include standards for ovens, lamps, microwaves, vending machines, dishwashers, commercial boilers, and air conditioners—to be finalized by August. It also encourages DOE to put a higher priority on rules that will yield the largest energy savings.
See the MSNBC article about the appliance standards memorandum, complete with a video of the speech, and the full text of the speech on the WhiteHouse.gov Web site.
