As the oil spill in the Gulf Coast region reaches into the seventh week and officially becomes the largest such disaster in the history of this country, the ire of constituents across the United States is reaching a crescendo. The argument that the spill should be used to forge a clean energy future has merit. However, there are major strides that need to be made. As indicated on a recent post, renewable energy only comprises 7% of the total resource mix. Even including nuclear only brings the total to 15%. The oil spill moves the discussion beyond merely talking about domestic sources of energy.

In a speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania earlier today, President Obama reiterated his support for a clean energy future. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Obama “renewed his call for a ‘new, stronger foundation’ for the economy based on a ‘clean energy future.’” The story goes on to cite renewable energy as one of the president’s “five ‘pillars’ on which the country’s economy would grow.

According to his speech (the full text of which can be found here) “tax credits and loan guarantees in the Recovery Act alone will lead to 720,000 clean energy jobs in America by 2012 – 720,000.” He went on to claim that “The United States used to make less than 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries for hybrid cars. By 2015, because of the investments that we made, we’ll have enough capacity to make up to 40 percent of these batteries.”

The oil spill has also been used as an opportunity to campaign on behalf of the stalled energy and climate bill. The president said that he “intend[s] to find [the votes] in the coming months” in order to pass the bill. He also stated that he “will continue to make the case for a clean energy future wherever and whenever I can.”

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