thank you so much please have a seat
have a seat oh I love you back thank you
it's great to be here it is good to be
back in Happy Valley it's good to be
back at Penn State I want to say first
of all thank you to Graham Spanier your
president
Elizabeth Gorham
the mayor of State College congressman
Glenn Thompson is here I met this guy
I hadn't heard of him before but
apparently he coaches your football team
Joe Paterno was in the house and one
last introduction I want to make some of
you know I have these military aides
they go with me everywhere
they're from each branch of our armed
services they're the ones who carry the
football you've heard of that so they're
really important guys well it just so
happens that the military aid with me
today is mr. Sam price lieutenant
colonel in the Air Force happens to be
Penn State Class of 95 same price right
here
so we got some lions who are taking care
of business on Air Force One as well as
here on campus now last week I visited a
small town in Wisconsin that was right
next to Green Bay so so in the spirit of
fairness I've come to Pennsylvania not
too far from the center of Steeler
Nation to wish Steelers fans good luck
in the Superbowl - two years ago I stole
one of the team's owners Dan Rooney to
be our ambassador to Ireland so I've got
some love for the Steelers I also have
aware though that this this state splits
up a little bit so I suspect there may
be a few Eagles fans
you're with us Bears fans sitting at
home watching but that small town in
Wisconsin and the borough of State
College have something else in common
besides championship football teams
these are places where the future will
be won these are the places where the
new jobs and the world's best businesses
will take root right here in State
College right here in Pennsylvania and
in the short term obviously we've got to
focus on the devastation that occurred
because of this recession over the last
two years and the best thing we can do
to speed up economic growth is to make
sure that people and businesses have
more money to spend and that's exactly
what the tax cut that we passed in
December is doing because Democrats and
Republicans came together Americans
paychecks will be a little bit bigger
this year and businesses will be able to
write off their investments and
companies will grow and jobs will be
created that's all good in the short
term but the reason I wanted to come
here to Penn State is to talk about the
long term the reason I wanted to talk to
young people is to talk about the future
and how we're going to win it if we want
to make up for the millions of jobs that
were lost in this recession but more
importantly if we want to make sure that
America is still a place where you can
make it if you try where you can go as
far as hard work and big dreams will
take you and we're going to have to make
some serious decisions about our
long-term economic health at a time when
we're facing stiff competition from
other nations for jobs and industries of
our time and I know every young person
here feels that pressure
you understand that it's not going to be
a cakewalk this competition for the
future which means all of us are gonna
have to up our game we are going to have
to win the future
by being smarter and working harder and
working together if we want those jobs
and businesses to thrive in the United
States of America we're gonna have to
out-innovate and out-educate and
out-build the rest of the world that's
what we're gonna have to do
that means investing in cutting-edge
research and technology it means
investing in the skills and training of
our people it means investing in
transportation and communication
networks that can move goods and
information as fast as possible and to
make room for these investments it means
cutting whatever spending we just can't
afford so I've proposed that we freeze
annual domestic spending for the next
five years which will reduce the deficit
by more than four hundred billion
dollars over the next decade and will
bring annual domestic spending to the
lowest share of our economy since
Eisenhower was president meaning since
way before most of you were born
he said not me now just like Americans
do every day government has a
responsibility to live within its means
but we also have a responsibility to
invest in those areas that are gonna
have the biggest impact and in this
century those areas are education and
infrastructure and innovation and that
that last area innovation is why I've
come to Penn State today innovation is
what this country is all about sparking
the imagination and creativity of our
people unleashing new discoveries that's
what America does better than any other
country on Earth that's what we do
and this innovation has always been
driven by individual scientists and
entrepreneurs I was up in Schenectady
New York the other day at the GE plant
that was Thomas Edison's original plant
and anywhere you go in the country you
will find inventors and businesses that
created products that are now sent all
around the world but innovation has also
flourished because we as a nation have
invested in the success of these
individual entrepreneurs these inventors
these scientists in this country from
the moment you have a new idea you can
explore it in the world's best labs and
universities you can develop it with a
research grant you can protect it with a
patent you can market it with a loan to
start a new business you've got a chain
that takes a great idea all the way
through and that's something that we as
a nation have always invested in it's
how we as a people have advanced ideas
from the earliest stages of research to
the point where you can hand it off and
let the private sector run with the ball
it's how investments in basic research
led to things like the computer chip and
GPS and millions of good jobs so in
America innovation isn't just how we
change our lives it's how we make a
living and to support American
innovation what my administration is
trying to do is not just hand out money
what we're doing is we're issuing a
challenge because right now some of the
most promising innovation is happening
in the area of clean energy technology
technology that's creating jobs reducing
our dependence on foreign oil and
something that every young person here
cares about making sure our planet is a
healthier place to live that we can pass
on to future generations
so we're telling scientists and we're
telling engineers all across the country
that if they assemble teams are the best
minds in their fields and focus on
tackling the biggest obstacles to clean
abundant and affordable energy then
we're going to get behind their work we
as a country will invest in them we'll
get them all in one place and we'll
support their research we call these
places energy innovation hubs at Caltech
they're developing a way to turn
sunlight and water into fuel for cars
you like that
and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in
Tennessee they're using supercomputers
to find ways of getting much more power
out of nuclear facilities and right here
right here at Penn State
a university whose motto is making life
better you've answered the call so
today you're preparing to lead the way
on a hub that will make America home to
the most energy-efficient buildings in
the world now that that may not sound
too sexy until you know energy-efficient
buildings but but but listen our homes
and our businesses consume 40% of the
energy we use think about that everybody
focuses on cars and you know gas prices
and that's understandable
but our homes and our businesses use 40%
of the energy they contribute to 40% of
the carbon pollution that we produce and
that is contributing to climate change
it costs us billions of dollars in
energy bills they waste huge amounts of
energy so the good news is we can change
all that making our buildings more
energy efficient is one of the fastest
easiest and cheapest ways to save money
combat pollution and create jobs right
here in the United States of America and
that's what we're gonna do
so that's what this energy innovation
hub based in Philadelphia is going to be
all about you will help make America a
world leader in innovative designs for
cost-effective energy efficient
buildings from lighting to windows from
heating to cooling all of it this is
where we need you to push the envelope
and ask just how efficient can our
buildings be can they be self-sufficient
producing just as much energy as they
consume what new discoveries can we make
and soon you'll have a new place to
answer these questions a clean energy
campus in the Philadelphia Navy Yard
now this campus will be the product of a
true collaboration what Penn State you
have done is develop an innovative model
for how to do research government pulled
resources from across different agencies
to support your effort and programs that
train new workers and new skills to
loans for small businesses that will
grow from your breakthroughs private
sectors are already pitching in to help
so IBM is providing supercomputers Bayer
material science is providing materials
for insulation and facades that save
energy
PPG Industries is providing walls that
reflect sunlight and windows that
reflect infrared building this campus
will support jobs in all of these
businesses and the discoveries made on
this campus will lead to even more jobs
jobs and engineering jobs and
manufacturing jobs and construction jobs
and installation jobs in retail and
there'll be more than jobs that helps
support families there'll be jobs with a
national purpose jobs that make our
economy smarter jobs that make our
planet safer jobs that maintain
America's competitive edge in the 21st
century
now as any scientist will tell you it's
often a challenge to commercialize
research you come up with a great idea
but moving that new discovery from
theory to practice or from the lab to
the marketplace that's a challenge so
that's why today here at Penn State I'm
announcing what we're calling the Better
Buildings initiative and it's a plan to
dramatically improve the energy
efficiency of America's businesses over
the next decade so
by reaching this goal we could save
America's businesses nearly forty
billion dollars a year in their utility
bills think about that forty billion
dollars that's money they could be spent
growing those businesses and hiring new
workers I'll just take one extreme
example the Empire State Building right
now its owners are investing in
renovations that will reduce their
energy consumption and this investment
will soon and pay for itself and save
them four point four million dollars a
year in energy costs that one building
now granted it's a big building
so most buildings aren't as big they're
not going to use as much energy as the
Empire State Building but what we're
saying to people is if you're willing to
make your buildings more
energy-efficient will provide new tax
credits and financing opportunities for
you to do so and this plan
this plan would build on the home star
program we proposed last year which
would have provided rebates of up to
$3,000 for homeowners to make their own
homes more energy-efficient and these
are upgrades that could save families
hundreds of dollars each year in energy
costs see see the problem for both
homeowners and businesses is they'll
recover the money that they make by
lowering their utility bills but they
may not have the cash upfront and if we
can provide you if we can provide the
American people an incentive you'll
recover that money you'll get it back
and in the meantime we're making our
entire economy more efficient the steps
like these also can boost manufacturing
and private sector jobs so over the last
two years we've offered similar
incentives for cities and companies and
clean energy manufacturers that wanted
to help America become more energy
efficient give you a couple examples in
Maryland our program helped an
energy-saving window manufacturer boost
business by 55 percent in North Carolina
there's a company that makes
energy-efficient lighting
hired hundreds of new workers company
that manufactures LEDs just down the
road from here in Altoona saw their
business increased by a million bucks
we're also going to support state and
local governments who come up with the
best ideas to make energy-efficient
buildings the norm so you show us the
best idea is to change your game on the
ground we'll show you the money we will
show you the money states and local
government
to get the private sector to lead by
example I'm also issuing a challenge to
CEOs to labor to building owners to
hospitals universities and others to
join us now tax credits mean lost
revenue for Treasury it cost money
and since we've got big deficits we've
got to pay for it so to pay for it I've
asked Congress to eliminate the billions
in taxpayer dollars that we currently
give to oil companies
they are doing they are doing just fine
on their own so it's time to stop
subsidizing yesterday's energy it's time
to invest in tomorrow's it's time to win
the future that's what our project is
now Penn State is a place that knows a
little bit about playing to win last I
counted coach Paterno has got more than
400 wins under his belt
but your nation needs to win too
we need you to be as proud of what you
do in the lab as you are of what your
football team does on the field
we need you to seek breakthroughs and
new technologies that we can't even
imagine you and especially the young
people who are here we need you to act
with a sense of urgency to study and
work and create as if the fate of the
country depends on you because it does
it depends on you
and if we're harnessing all the energy
in this room all the young people in
this audience then I'm confident we'll
do it we can do this because what this
university is going to lead will be more
than a pioneering research center or an
economic engine for Pennsylvania and
America for years to come
what you're gonna do is lead a
modern-day incubator for what sets us
apart the greatest force that the world
has ever known and that is the American
idea if you remember that and keep
breaking new ground if we as a country
keep investing in you I'm absolutely
confident that America will win the
future in this century just like we did
in the last thank you god bless you and
God bless the United States of America
you