Klobuchar promotes renewable energy as way to create jobs

U.S. Senator Klobuchar will travel throughout Minnesota the week of January 11 to highlight the job creation potential of energy efficiency and homegrown energy, especially with small businesses.

Klobuchar is co-author of the American Renewable Energy Act, which would establish a national renewable energy standard to stimulate innovation and investment in homegrown energy.

During the week, Klobuchar will visit businesses and hold events in eight communities. She will be in Duluth on Wednesday, Jan. 13 for a 1:45 p.m. panel discussion with area businesses about export opportunities. The meeting will be held at the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, 1200 Port Terminal Rd.

“In the current economic downturn, clean energy industries have been one of the few sectors that are actually creating rather than cutting jobs,” said Klobuchar.  “Small businesses are the source of much of this innovation and job creation, and we need to encourage more of it.”

Klobuchar noted that a recent national economic analysis showed that Minnesota’s annual job growth during the past decade was less than two percent.  But jobs related to the new energy economy grew by nearly 12 percent each year.