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Executive Summary
Across the country, Americans are hurting. From the big cities of
the coasts to the industrial heartland to our rural communities, the
slumping economy is taking
its toll in shuttered businesses, disappearing jobs, bankruptcies,
foreclosures and an increased sense of anxiety about our collective
future.
To revive the American dream, we need to rebuild our economy
on a sound foundation – one that puts people back to work, contributes
to long-term prosperity, rebuilds
our communities, and protects our environment.
There is one path to a renewed economy that achieves all of
those goals – one that is increasingly recognized by opinion leaders,
politicians, investors and workers as our best chance to work our way
out of our current economic troubles, while building a stronger, more
self-reliant and environmentally responsible America.
It is the path to a clean energy future.
Clean energy in America is not some distant dream. We have the
technology, the tools and the know-how to use energy more wisely and to
get more of our energy from clean, renewable sources. What’s more,
clean energy
can be produced right here at home, creating new jobs in all sectors of
the nation’s economy – including many jobs that can never be
outsourced.
Americans are already beginning to see the benefits of clean
energy in their local economies. Laid-off workers in the nation’s “Rust
Belt” are getting back to work building wind turbines and solar cells;
farmers in the Midwest are supplementing their incomes with royalties
from wind farms; residents of economically distressed inner cities are
learning how to install solar panels and weatherize homes for greater
energy efficiency.
Every part of the country has the opportunity to benefit from a
transition to a new energy future.
But to turn this trickle of green jobs into a torrent of new
economic opportunities, we need to act boldly – and fast. With a strong
policy commitment to clean energy and the investment to match, we can:
• Embrace a future of clean power by making our economy more energy-efficient and getting 100 percent
of our electricity from clean, renewable sources.
• Achieve energy independence, by cutting our consumption
of oil in half – nearly as much as we currently
import from all other nations.
• Speed economic recovery and create millions of new jobs in dozens of different occupations in every
part of the country.
This report lays out a blueprint for how we can repower America
for the 21st century, cleaning our environment while revitalizing our
economy. A new president and a new Congress create a golden opportunity
to chart a new future for America. The time to begin is now.
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