KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsObama talks up wind power on Earth Day in Iowa

Obama talks up wind power on Earth Day in Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa (KTIV) - President Barack Obama says "the nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy" will be the one that leads the global economy.

He marked Earth Day, with a stop in Newton, Iowa, with a call for "a new era of energy exploration." Obama toured a wind energy plant that grew out of a defunct Maytag plant. The president called Trinity Structural Towers a model for job creation and energy production. "The bulk of our efforts must focus on unleashing a new, clean energy economy that will begin to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, cut our carbon pollution by about 80% by 2050, and create millions of new jobs right here in America," said President Obama.

The president says wind could cold generate as much as 20% of the country's electricity demand by 2030. But, he also talked about using other natural resources... like water "And, today, I am announcing that my administration is taking another historic step. Through the Department of Interior, we are establishing a program to authorize - for the first time - the leasing of federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources."

The president says if each of us replaced just one ordinary incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent.. it could save enough energy to light three million homes.