Follow Germany on renewable energy: Clinton

By Jeff Mason, Fri Jan 11, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton wants America to follow Germany's lead -- and her own -- in using environmentally friendly fuel sources and making homes and buildings more energy efficient.

The New York senator and former first lady has made fighting climate change and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil a big issue in her campaign for the White House.

Investing in renewable energy technology, such as solar or wind power, is one way to achieve both goals.

"Take Germany," Clinton told supporters near Los Angeles on Friday. "They have put nearly 300,000 people to work in a much smaller economy installing solar panels."

She said the United States could create tens of thousands of "green-collar" jobs by doing the same thing, boosting the economy and protecting the environment at the same time.

"These renewable energy jobs are high-wage jobs that cannot be outsourced," she said to applause. "Other countries are ahead of us. But that doesn't mean anything because we can catch up in a hurry if we put our minds to it."

Clinton proposed speeding up $5 billion in investments in energy efficiency and renewable technology as part of a plan to stimulate the U.S. economy and avoid a recession.

She said she and husband Bill, the former president, had taken measures to make their house less wasteful of energy.

"We had a whole energy audit done on our home," she said, adding the couple had switched to renewable power sources with their utility company and started to install thicker windows on their old farmhouse in New York state.

"We've now moved all of our lighting to compact florescent bulbs," she said.

Experts say people can slow global warming simply by switching to more energy-efficient light bulbs.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)