Obama’s remarks came at the end of his first quarterly meeting with the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which was created in February to provide the administration with independent, nonpartisan advice on how to promote economic growth and stability.

The focus of Wednesday’s meeting, which was streamed live on the White House Web site, was job creation and green energy.

Obama told the board members he’s seen “some return to normalcy” in parts of the financial markets.
“But obviously, one of the things I’ve been concerned about since I took office is looking beyond the immediate crisis in front of us to find out what is a sustainable economic model, post bubble and bust,” he said.

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Obama will arrive in Newton on Wednesday – Earth Day – to talk about energy, a White House spokesperson told The Des Moines Register.

The visit will give Iowa a chance to highlight its accomplishments in renewable energy, as well as broadcast a message to the president and the nation on what Iowans would like for the future, state officials said.

“It’s quite an honor for him to be in Iowa, and especially Newton,” said Rep. Paul Bell, D-Newton.

Newton lost nearly 2,000 jobs when Whirlpool Corp. bought and closed Maytag Corp., an appliance maker with a 115-year history in Newton. Since then, the town has “become very much a player in wind energy,” Bell said.

Two companies have since moved in: Trinity Structural Towers, which makes wind turbine towers and created 160 jobs in Newton, and TPI Composites, which makes wind turbine blades and created 500 jobs.

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Iowa has more than doubled its installed generation capacity in the last year alone, going from 1,273 MW at the beginning of last year to 2,790 MW at the beginning of this year.

National employment numbers in the wind energy sector rose as well, up from 50,000 jobs last year to 85,000 this year.

“Because wind projects can be built quickly,” Says AWEA CEO Denise Bode, “positive legislation from Congress will have immediate and visible effects. Looking forward, it will also be important for the new Administration and Congress to put in place long-term, supportive renewable energy policies to make the new clean energy economy a reality.”

Read more about it here: (AWEA Newsroom)

It’s a good idea that seems to be catching on.

President-elect Barack Obama has embraced calls for “green jobs,” such as retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient and improving mass transit. He recently outlined a two-year stimulus plan that included plans to save or create 2.5 million jobs focused on everything from rebuilding schools to developing alternative energy technologies.

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