Presidential hopeful Joe Biden said during a town hall discussion on the ABC network on 15 October that the future of American manufacturing lies in renewable energy and electric vehicles.
The town hall discussions were an alternative to a planned second presidential debate with incumbent President Donald Trump. The two are slated to meet again on 22 October.
“What we have to do in the future rests in renewable energy - the single fastest-growing energy source in the world right now,” Biden says. “I'm going to say something that's going to sound self-serving but I managed the Recovery Act and I was able to invest billions of dollars into bringing down the cost of the cost per BTU of wind and solar so now it's cheaper than coal and it's cheaper than oil right now and it has great, great promise.”
Made-in-America stipulations for federal contracts are going to be a cornerstone of his administration, if elected, he adds.
“I, as president, am going to invest that $600 billion we spend in government contracts only on those things that in fact also are not only made in America but building an infrastructure that's clean and new and what we have to do is focus on the transmission of energy across the country from areas relating to solar and wind. The reason is that that has not been mastered yet.”
The electrification of the US vehicle fleet represents further opportunities, he says.
“Electric vehicles will save billions of gallons of oil, create...one million automobile jobs,” Biden says. “But we're lagging because we're not investing. We're not doing any of the research.”
Opportunities in the next energy revolution depend on top-quality information. Subscribe to Power Materials today - soon to be moving to a daily format with increased global coverage.