Green projects, electric cars and solar power on agenda for Obama and Biden
Filed under: Technology, Economy, Green
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will focus Tuesday on green projects and the new jobs they will create as they visit a new solar energy center and a former GM plant that will be retooled to produce electric vehicles. They will also announce $3.4 billion in government grants to improve the efficiency of the nation's electrical transmission network. All three projects are examples of how the administration plans to create or save tens of thousands of jobs using money from the stimulus package.Obama starts his day at Florida Power and Light's Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia, Fla., one of three solar projects under way in Florida that will create 5,000 jobs. Obama pledged $467 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to expand and accelerate the development and use of solar energy. The Next Generation Solar Energy Center will generate enough power for 3,000 homes when completed. Obama will also highlight new technologies that will allow this solar energy to be transmitted to locations with higher demand.
While in Arcadia, Obama will announce $3.4 billion in government grants to develop and install "smart-grid" technology that will make the nation's electrical grid more reliable and efficient. The money for this project comes from the $787 billion economic stimulus legislation. Grants will range in size from $400,000 to $200 million including:
• $200 million for Constellation Energy Group's Baltimore Gas and Electric to provide new electric meters to 1.1 million households. The new meters will allow real-time monitoring of electricity use and help customers adjust their usage during peak times.
• $28.1 million to Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas and Electric to build a wireless system to link the utility's 1.4 million meters and monitor other equipment across the electrical grid.
In all, there will be 100 government grants in 49 states that will be matched by $4.7 billion in private investments.
Vice President Biden will announce a multimillion-dollar deal to convert a closed GM plant in Wilmington, Del., into a factory for making electric vehicles. Fisker Automotive of Irvine, Calif., will invest $175 million to retool the plant and put many of Delaware's former GM and Chrysler workers back to work. The 60-year-old plant used to produce the Saturn Sky, Pontiac Solstice and Opel GT. It was closed in July and 1,100 people lost their jobs. About 700 workers at a Chrysler plant 15 miles away in Newark, Del., were laid off in December 2008 when that plant closed.
Fisker will pay $18 million for the facility and equipment, and will get tax incentives from Delaware. The company will build an electric vehicle under the name "Project Nina" that is expected to sell for $39,900 after tax incentives.
Fisker says it will create 2,000 jobs at the plant, which expected to be operational in 2011. Administration officials estimate that the deal will indirectly create another 3,000 jobs once the facility is fully operational, which is expected to be in 2014. Fisker got a $528 million loan from the Department of Energy when it started two years ago, and it plans to use some of those funds to retool the Delaware plant.
Lita Epstein has written more than 25 books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Value Investing and The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Politics of Oil.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-27-2009 @ 12:03PM
patrick said...
drill drill drill ...coal coal...coal ..!!!!!!!!!!!!
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10-27-2009 @ 12:07PM
patrick said...
obama ...lower taxes ....get out of the buisness of banking and housing and anything the your admin. is trying to take over ....your destroying our country .....one term president ....remember what the goverment gives to you the goverment can take away !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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10-27-2009 @ 3:09PM
Chris said...
Do you truly not see the benefits of what he is doing here? Or are so deep seated in hatred of anything a Democrat does that you are so ignorant of the economics of what the administration is doing?? This is how he is using stimulis money to create jobs - the very jobs your ilk keep complaining he is doing nothing about. Well guess what? Here he is doing just that. And making us a leader in what will be a major industry before he leaves office in 8 years.
10-27-2009 @ 6:39PM
dwight said...
well i think we all might try using our brains rather than a gun to save the country like our president.let me repeat it for patrick he is the us president,if you do not like it move.
10-27-2009 @ 12:14PM
j hobby said...
hey want to sell electric cars take the tax breaks and make them affordable for the average middle class people
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10-27-2009 @ 12:20PM
alr1927 said...
Lets see.....$3400000000.00 divided by 7000=$485,714.00 per job. Sounds expensive.....Hmmmm.
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10-27-2009 @ 4:15PM
fran said...
Finally, we have some real movement toward zero emission vehicles and a president who is brave enough to try to move us away from our daunting environmental problems. And people are being critical of him?
Sure, we don't have a grid that is composed mostly of renewables, but, what have you done lately about that? Are you driving a low-emission vehicle? Do you have solar powered hot water? Do you dry your clothes on a clothes line? PV panels?
Only he who is doing all he can is able to be critical of those who are trying to make change for the better.
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10-27-2009 @ 5:49PM
mary said...
Chris....Why don't you actually do some research? Do you realize electric car batteries don't come from the car battery fairy? Lithium electric car batteries are a horrible source of pollution. The lithium must be mined using a sulfuric acid preparation to separate from the soil, which contaminates ground water tables and soil making a toxic wasteland. The lithium also is mined in Bolivia, not a great friend.
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11-05-2009 @ 5:06PM
jlmealer said...
That is why Obama-Biden are a bad idea. They have no common sense, no plans and no comprehension of the amount of water solar uses. The only thing the current administration has in mind is higher taxes and more control over the populous.
JL Mealer
Mealer Companies LLC
http://mealercompanies.com
America’s Next Major Automaker
& 100% Self-Regenerative-Fueled
High Capacity Electricity Producing Device MFG
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11-14-2009 @ 11:50PM
Gene R. Peckover said...
All good things start out with good ideas . It does have to be shared with everybody who cares . If more poeple created solutions that work we could all profit instead of crying about spilt milk. I can add 6mpg hwy & 10mpg intown with an extra 150hp to V8 gas Ford, Chevy & Chrysler vehicles with factory warranty continuance. Large Family Highway Hybrids with Towing capability. GenesVettes.com. Reduce gas consumption from 30% to 50%.I have 3 test vehicles that I give test drives by appointment.2007 Corvette 34mpg hwy-43mpg around town 750hp-2008 Corvette 32mpg hwy 40 around town 775hp-2009 Silverado 28mpg hwy-32 around town -18mpg towing 6,000 lbs -500hp-550tq. Who will tell the public about a solution that works & will save 30 to 50 % gas consumptiom . That will also support our auto industry so we can have safer vehicles made here in the US. This is something that can be done now that will add green to many of those vehicles that are underpowered and that waist gas.Gene
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