QUICK NEWS, January 13: THE PRES TALKS BACK TO CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS; SOLAR IN THIS SOTU AND IN OBAMA’S TIME; WORDS TO REMEMBER FROM THE LAST OBAMA SOTU

THE PRES TALKS BACK TO CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS Obama in SOTU: If You Still Dispute Climate Change, ‘You’ll Be Pretty Lonely’ in That

Josh Feldman, January 12, 2016 (MediaIte)

“…[President Obama got] in a few jabs at Republican climate denial during his State of the Union [speech]…’Look,’ Obama said, ‘if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it’…[but] anyone who does that will be ‘pretty lonely’…[because] the U.S. military, much of corporate America, ‘the majority of the American people, [and] almost the entire scientific community’ [accept human-caused climate change. He also] invoked that historic climate deal that roughly 200 nations [just] agreed to…[and argued] that climate change should be important regardless of record temperatures because ‘why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?’” click here for more

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SOLAR IN THIS SOTU AND IN OBAMA’S TIME Solar gets a nod in U.S. President Obama’s last State of the Union address

Christian Roselund, 13 January 2016 (PV Magazine)

“…Solar, other forms of renewable energy and climate change shared space in the [President’s seventh and final State of the Union address] with a wide range of other issues…[He] made multiple references to the transition to renewable energy, and the U.S. role in it, emphasizing at different times technological innovation, business opportunities, consumer empowerment and jobs…[He] noted that the benefits of renewable energy extend well beyond climate change…[and said] oil and coal resources need to ‘better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet’…[W]hile comprehensively cutting subsidies for fossil fuels has yet to be achieved, many of the policy initiatives to support Obama’s clean energy rhetoric have already been announced…[He] mentioned the three-fold increase in wind capacity and the 30-fold increase in solar capacity during his presidency…[His] rhetoric may reflect more hope than policy] in consumer empowerment…[because] the fight for net metering as an enabling policy for rooftop solar is happening at the state level, and for practical proposes outside the control of the federal government.” click here for more

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WORDS TO REMEMBER FROM THE LAST OBAMA SOTU Obama on Climate and Energy in 2016 State of the Union

January 13, 2016 (Inside Climate News)

“…Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn’t deny Sputnik was up there. We didn’t argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon…Seven years ago, we made the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history. Here are the results. In fields from Iowa to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power. On rooftops from Arizona to New York, solar is saving Americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills, and employs more Americans than coal…Meanwhile, we’ve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly sixty percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth…Gas under two bucks a gallon ain’t bad, either…

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“Now we’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future — especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels…we put money back into those communities and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21st century transportation system…None of this will happen overnight, and yes, there are plenty of entrenched interests who want to protect the status quo. But the jobs we’ll create, the money we’ll save, and the planet we’ll preserve — that’s the kind of future our kids and grandkids deserve…” click here for more

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