Obama energy goal hard to meet: energy secretary

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama will have a hard time significantly increasing America’s alternative energy production, outgoing U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Wednesday.

As part of his economic stimulus plan, Obama wants to double output of alternative energy over the next three years.

“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult to get there in three years,” Bodman said in a final briefing with reporters before he leaves office next week.

Renewable energy sources, which include solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biofuels and other biomass, accounted for 7 percent of U.S. energy supplies in 2007, according to the Energy Department.

Reuters