1 | Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at an organizing event at the Reiman Ballroom at the Iowa State University Alumni Center in Ames, Iowa July 26, 2015. |
2 | AMES, Iowa Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Sunday for a dramatic national shift to energy sources such as solar and wind, setting a goal of generating enough clean renewable energy to power every U.S. home within a decade after she takes office. |
3 | Clinton, the front-runner for her party's 2016 presidential nomination, also pledged to have more than half a billion solar panels installed nationwide within four years of taking office. |
4 | "I want more wind, more solar, more advanced biofuels, more energy efficiency," Clinton said at a rally on Sunday in Ames, Iowa. |
5 | "And I've got to tell you, people who argue against this are just not paying attention." |
6 | The two goals, announced in a video on Sunday night, were the first elements of what Clinton said would be a comprehensive climate-change agenda to be released over the next few months. |
7 | Clinton has been under pressure from Democratic presidential rival Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-styled socialist who has called for swift action on climate change, and environmental activists anxious to see her spell out details of a climate plan. |
8 | Her campaign said the goals would lead to a 700 percent increase in the nation's installed solar capacity from current levels, and eventually could lead to the generation of at least one third of all electricity from renewable sources. |
9 | Clinton also called for extending federal clean energy tax incentives and making them more cost effective. |
10 | In Ames, Clinton said she would continue the wind production tax credit and recalibrate other tax incentives that are "too heavily weighted ... toward fossil fuels." |
11 | Clinton also said she would fight efforts to roll back President Barack Obama's executive actions to curb carbon emissions from power plants. |
12 | She said the actions could build a "clean energy economy" that would bolster growth. |
13 | "If we start addressing it, we're going to actually be creating jobs and new businesses," she said. |
14 | Clinton will discuss the proposals on Monday at an energy-efficient transit station in Iowa, the state that kicks off the 2016 presidential nominating race and is a leading wind energy producer. |
15 | Clinton praised Iowa for promoting wind energy and advanced biofuels, and for establishing state tax rebates for installing solar panels in homes and businesses. |
16 | She criticized Republicans who are reluctant to say climate change is a man-made phenomenon. |
17 | "They will answer any question about climate change by saying: 'I'm not a scientist.' Well, I'm not a scientist either. I'm just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I know we're facing a huge problem," Clinton said. |