President Barack Obama has been re-elected to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney securing 270 votes of the electoral. What will this mean for renewables? Below is a summary of Obama’s policy in relation to renewable energy.

• Throughout his campaign Obama has pledged to cut oil imports by half by 2020 and to invest in developing a range of domestic energy sources.  He has also set a mandate for the production of fuel efficient vehicles to reduce their environmental impact and cut back subsidies for oil companies in order to reduce the nation’s reliance this fossil fuel.
• Obama has also promised to support the development of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind but he will need the support of Congress to extend or renew tax breaks that have underpinned the growth of these industries.  However renewable energy faces major obstacles from competitively priced natural gas, a lack of infrastructure to connect large project to the grid.
• He has also vowed to eliminate more than $64 billion in subsidies for fossil fuel companies, a plan the industry vigorously protested.
• Obama is deemed to have declared a war on coal through stricter regulation however cheap natural gas as an alternative power source is also driving that change.