Aldy quoted on Obama claims that U.S. has doubled production of 'clean energy'
America’s recovery from the Great Recession is slow but steady, President Barack Obama said in a recent speech, and the country is headed in the right direction, thanks in part to his energy initiatives.
He told students at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 9, 2015, the United States is now the world’s No. 1 producer in oil and gas -- a statement we’ve researched in the past and rated True -- and touted a move to more renewable resources.
"We’ve doubled the production of clean energy," Obama told the crowd.
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So can Obama take credit for this spike in renewable energy resource use? Joseph Aldy, former special assistant to the president for energy and environment in 2009-10 and currently an assistant public policy professor at Harvard, says yes, arguing the combination of tax credits, grants and guaranteed loans for renewable energy projects helped boost providers through tight credit and labor markets. Current production far exceeds Energy Information Administration projections from 2009, he told PolitiFact.
Susan Glickman, the Florida director of the pro-renewables Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said some expansion would have happened anyway, since costs have gone down, particularly for wind and solar. But not only did the Recovery Act spur growth for renewable energy, the residual effects have continued. The 2013 National Renewable Energy Laboratory report bears out these growth trends, which have been fueled by federal incentives, she said.
