On the recordAugust 4, 2015
I thank my good friend from Rhode Island, my friend from California, Senator Boxer, Senator Schatz from Hawaii, and all the Members who work on these issues. This is the big one. This is the issue. This is the threat to the entire planet. Young people want us to do something about it. They are wondering when the older generation is finally going to get around to doing something about it, from moving to sending pollution up into the air to moving to clean energy, moving to new energy technologies. So as they look at this, they look at coal, they look at a 19th century technology--coal--and they say: When are we moving to the new era? Well, that is a good question because in 2005 in the United States of America we deployed a grand total of 79 megawatts of solar. In 2014, we deployed 7,000 megawatts of solar--100 times more--because we started to have a plan. Democrats put a plan in place by creating tax breaks for solar, by incentivizing more investment in solar across the country. Individual States started to put new regulations on the books--7,000 megawatts. Now we have 20,000 megawatts of solar in the United States. But we only deployed 79 in 2005. Now, if you really want some great news as to what is possible, in 2015 and 2016, we are going to deploy 20,000 more--in just 2 years. So we are going to double the total amount of all solar ever deployed in the United States in just 2 years.…
