Reuters/Ames, Iowa
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has called for a dramatic national shift to energy sources such as solar and wind, setting a goal of generating enough clean renewable energy to power every US home within her first decade in office.
Clinton, the front-runner for her party’s 2016 presidential nomination, also pledged to have more than half a billion solar panels installed nationwide within four years of taking office.
“I want more wind, more solar, more advanced biofuels, more energy efficiency,” Clinton said at a rally in Ames, Iowa. “And I’ve got to tell you, people who argue against this are just not paying attention.”
The two goals, announced in a video on Sunday night, were the first elements of what Clinton said would be a comprehensive climate-change agenda to be released over the next few months.
Clinton’s goals served as a response to Democratic presidential rival Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-styled socialist who has called for swift action on climate change, and to environmental activists anxious to see Clinton spell out details of a climate plan.
Her campaign said the goals would lead to a 700% increase in the nation’s installed solar capacity from current levels, and eventually could generate at least one third of all electricity from renewable sources.
Clinton’s plans also call for extending federal clean energy tax incentives and making them more cost effective. In Ames, Clinton said she would continue the wind production tax credit and recalibrate other tax incentives that are “too heavily weighted ... toward fossil fuels.”
Clinton also said she would fight efforts to roll back President Barack Obama’s executive actions to curb carbon emissions from power plants.
Clinton discussed the proposals at an energy-efficient transit station in Iowa, the state that kicks off the 2016 presidential nominating race in barely six months and is a leading wind energy producer.
Clinton praised Iowa for promoting wind energy and advanced biofuels, and for establishing state tax rebates for installing solar panels in homes and businesses.
