another company, PV Powered, a company developing more reliable solar technology in Bend, Oregon. And then there was Bombard Electric in Las Vegas which is building up Nevada’s renewable energy capacity.
And just last week I visited the Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, California, which is testing batteries to power a new generation of plug-in hybrids that will help end our dependence on foreign oil. I have to say, Susan, the battery I saw was bigger than that one that’s on the desk — (laughter) — but that may be the direction we’re moving.
So innovators like you are creating the jobs that will foster our recovery —- and creating the technologies that will power our long-term prosperity.
So I thank you for your work. It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention. At this moment of necessity, we need you. We need some inventiveness. Your country needs you to create new jobs and lead new industries. Your country needs you to mount a historic effort to end once and for all our dependence on foreign oil.
And in this difficult endeavor — in this pursuit on which I believe our future depends — your country will support you. Your President will support you.
My administration has begun implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which will create or save 3.5 million jobs — and 90 percent of those will be in the private sector. Through $59 billion invested in clean energy and in tax incentives to promote clean energy, the Recovery Act is estimated to create more than 300,000 jobs.
And these are jobs that will be created as we double our country’s supply of renewable energy and make the largest investment in basic research funding in American history. These are jobs developing new batteries to power the next generation of plug-in hybrid cars, like those being tested at the facility I visited in California last week. These are jobs upgrading our power grid, so that it can carry renewable energy from the far-flung places that — where it’s produced to the cities that use it.
And these are jobs that will be created through today’s announced $1.2 billion for research through the Department of Energy’s national labs. As we speak, my Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, is visiting Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, where recovery funds will speed construction of a laboratory that will help develop materials for new solar cells and other clean energy technologies.
Through this plan, we have achieved more in two months in support of a new, clean energy economy than we’ve achieved in perhaps 30 years. And the budget I’ve proposed builds on this foundation. The budget is a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy. We will attack the problems that have held us back for too long: the high cost of health care, the budget deficit, our broken education system, and our energy dependence.
We have a choice. We can choose to do what we’ve done. We can leave these problems for the next budget or the next administration, but more likely for