Innovation
is what this country is all about. Sparking the imagination and creativity of our people, unleashing（发动，解除） new discoveries -- that's what America does better than any other country on Earth. That's what we do. (Applause.) And this innovation has always been driven by individual scientists and entrepreneurs（企业家） . I was up in Schenectady, New York the other day at the G.E. 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（专利） ; 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 and basic research led to things like the computer chip and GPS, and millions of good jobs.
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 is 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. (Applause.)
So we’re telling scientists and we’re telling engineers all across the country that if they assemble teams of 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. And 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. (Applause.) At Oakridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, they’re using supercomputers to find ways of getting much more power out of nuclear facilities. (Applause.)
And right here, right here at Penn State, a university whose motto is “making life better,” you’ve answered the call. (Applause.) 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 may not sound too sexy until -- (laughter) -- energy-efficient buildings. (Laughter.) But listen, our homes and our businesses consume 40 percent of the energy we use. Think about that. Everybody focuses on cars and gas prices, and that’s understandable. But our homes and our businesses use 40 percent of the energy. They contribute to 40 percent 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 going to do. (Applause.)
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, from programs that train new workers and skills to loans for small businesses that will grow.
And programs that train new workers and 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 MaterialScience 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 in engineering; jobs in manufacturing; jobs in construction; jobs in installation; jobs in retail.
And they’ll be more than jobs that help support families; they’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. (Applause.)
