2011 State of the Union address: on Energy & Oil

Barack Obama: OpEd: Sunlight & water into fuel? Share info with the world

The planet has been saved! Or, at least, it won't perish due to an excess of CO2 or for lack of energy. It reminds me of something that happened over 40 years ago when a group of enterprising young Cuban scientists spoke to me with great enthusiasm about this same idea, based on theoretical principles. My blind faith in science led me to find everything they asked for, including an isolated facility where they would work for years.

I'm not denying a great Californian institute, but please, Mr. President, share this information with the world so that other scientists can work on this same project. This is not a matter of profit, as humanity would be prepared to pay anything your scientists want.

Barack Obama: Subsidize clean energy by canceling oil subsidies

With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

We need to get behind this innovation. And to help pay for it, I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don't know if you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in tomorrow's.

Clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market. So tonight, I set a new goal: By 2035, 80% of America's electricity will come from clean energy sources.

Barack Obama: FactCheck: clean coal isn't ready; nuke waste is unresolved

The biggest conundrum is coal. Coal fuels 44% of electricity production. But "clean" coal, which usually refers to coal burned in a way that allows its carbon dioxide emissions to be captured and stored underground, is far from ready to step in and provide such a large share of the mix. The first large-scale "clean" coal plant is still under development. That means renewables like wind, solar and hydro will need to continue to expand their shares of the pie, as well as natural gas.

Obama also counts nuclear plants as "clean"--but that's a point that environmentalists debate, particularly since the question of what to do with the resulting highly radioactive waste has yet to be resolved.