Embedded in the recovery act was the single biggest investment in clean energy in the history of the country. $90 billion. It leveraged 150 billion dollars in the private sector money. The investment helped create hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs in the years that followed. By the end of the administration, we were generating 30 times as much solar energy as you did in creating energy jobs at a rate 12 times faster than any other sector of the economy. And a lot of it was happening with you. Mayor Caldwell, you know what it meant to the people of Honolulu. You're leading the nation in solar watts per person.
You don't have to go through your tough neighborhoods and wonder why the asthma rates are higher, why, in fact, there's more illness, why, in fact, there's still lead paint in the wall, that mercury makes a difference whether or not you are going to extend your life or limit the time of your life. You guys see it. You know it. You don't have to be a scientist. You know what happens. You know what the plume off from the energy plants, what it does to neighborhoods, to people. But you see it every day. You see it in hospital admissions. In your hospitals. Look, folks, the fact of the matter is that this is all within our wheelhouse.
You know, we more than tripled wind generation. Today we generate wind power for 24 million homes. There's no reason why we can't quadruple that. Virtually overnight. And this is no longer rocket science. We figured out how to have solar energy, as cheap per kilowatt produced as gas. We helped install 16 million meters in your cities and towns to make it easier for people to save energy. Weatherize millions of homes. Saving $3,000 a year for people. Most of us come from neighborhoods where we weren't all that wealthy, not necessarily poor, but let me tell you something, $3,000 a year means the difference between paying your insurance, keep your kid in community college, whether or not you're going to be able to get the new sink, whether you have to put four new tires on the car. I don't know where these people live. They don't live in the neighborhoods I grew up in. We weren't poor. We lived in a nice neighborhood. When suburban sprawl was occurring, three bedroom house, four kids and a grand pop. But it was safe, good schools. But I tell you what, it mattered whether you had an extra $1,000 a year or $2,000 a year. And a very practical thing.
So what we did was, with these investments we made, we understood at your urging, I don't know how many mayors I sat with in large groups talking about this is an opportunity - "help me change my street lights. I can save x amount of energy. Help me move to having all of my buses run on propane or natural gas. Figure out a way to help me figure out how to do blah, blah, blah" - and it's mattered. It's had a profound impact.
Ten years ago we knew we needed green revolution. We understood the urgency in terms of people's health, in terms of economic growth, in terms of the quality of life. And with you all, we put the country on a path. We reduced carbon emissions from power plants by one third, that was the goal in the next ten years. Increase renewable energy by 30%. With the goal of being able to do it by 50 and 90% within the near term.
There's no reason that in 2025 all of north america can't get half of electricity from nonpolluting sources. It's within our grasp, but for special interest.
We need to reset these goals for our children and our grandchildren. The administration has walked away, but there's no reason we can't pull us back on the path. There's unanimity in my party, the vast majority of republicans agree and they support the goals as well. They've got more of a political problem, not being a wise guy, they've got a problem in the administration. And every single one of you knows giving your city a chance to grow and create jobs, but you also know it's more than that, it's about a matter of survival.
The threat posed by climate change is existential. You know, the first meeting we had in what we called the tank over in the pentagon, Barack and I as new president and vice-president getting briefed, you know what the military said our greatest security threat is? Global warming.
The military. The military.
Simple reason, sea levels rise a half a foot or a foot, you have tens of millions of people migrating. That's how wars start. That's how Darfur started. It matters. And you're seeing elements in your city and we're an average above sea level. Delaware in conjunction with the fed and environmental control agency said by the end of the century, it's a long time, hard for anybody to fathom, 8 to 11% of my state will be underwater. Homes destroyed, towns off the map, and I was down the beach in Delaware, when the EPA talked about how levels of rising next thing I see literally the same day, the national realtors on the air saying we've heard these warnings before, don't worry, buy on the beach. It's not a joke.
So, folks, this is real. I don't have to tell you that. But the fact of the matter is that you're on the ground every day, you see it. Hurricanes, drought, wildfires, mudslides. Mayor, you saw it in Austin, record rainfall led to sediment clogging up your city's water system. And you saw it Mayor Hancock in Denver, and dangerous for people to be inside and live without air conditioning. Our government's recent report found that heat stress and drought kill off up to a quarter of our-- it kill off up to a quarter of our corn and soybean crops.
What does it mean for you mayors from the Midwest, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska. Not a joke. EPA has spoken. They've laid all of this out. Our scientists have spoken. There's no dispute about this among scientists. Since when do we become science deniers? The united nations told us whether you agree with the exact numbers, we have 12 years to act before it's irreversible.
So, say it's ten years or 20 years, nobody's disputing if we fail to act we're going to have a more serious problem. Until the world is destabilized by food and security disasters, until they lose trillions of dollars in the fallout. Until devastation we've already seen a terrifying glimpse of becomes a new normal, maybe that's the only thing that's going to change people's mind, but I believe, I hope you do, we have to put the country back together. When we pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, 400 of you said not a republican or democrat thing, 400 said not us. Not us. Not my city. We're going to meet the standard. Governors across the nation said, not us. We're not going to do it. And we established the first ever limits on carbon emissions from power plants, doubled fuel economy standards of passengers vehicles 50.4 miles per gallon by 2025.
Would save families and businesses and cities almost $2 trillion. These are economic models. $2 trillion. While the proudest achievement for our administration was lead the passage and Barack did it, of the Paris agreement, which prompted every single country in the world to commit to reducing greenhouse gases. Every single one has, but us. Every country in the world. The last two years this administration has walked away from the progress we made. They've walked away, but you stepped up, as I said. [
The united states, we backed out of the agreement, but 400 of you said, no, no, not me. Conference of survey mayors last year you all did, 50% said you plan to take action in 2019. And hundreds of towns to total renewable energy. Say that move away from fossil fuels, renewable power is within our power, equivalent of taking 26 million cars off the road. 30 coal fired plants. Now I'm beginning to sound like the wonk I hate. But look, the point is, this is really important and it's within our power. It's within our power to stem this erosion.
You know, you banded together to purchase more electric vehicles, to provide cleaner air, to reduce oil dependence. Last year, the one millionth electric vehicle was sold in the united states. Ten years ago when we rescued the automobile industry, today ford and GM are intent on being the leaders in electric vehicles. How many of you have taken action with charging station in your city where your parking meters are. 48 electric vehicle charging chargers in the highways Barack and I before we left. When we opened gas stations in the 1920's, we need the cities and towns. Mayor Brown is getting it done in buffalo. Who is going to step up next?
We need leaders who understand this is the urgent priority facing our nation and judged by our children and grandchildren by what we do today. We deserve a strong federal partner. This nation cannot continue down this blind path. We cannot ignore science. We cannot abdicate our duty to lead the world. We can't stand alone in ignore ignorance while every other country in the world signs on in agreement.
The simple truth is, the american people are with us in this issue. Democrats and republicans, independents, they understand the realities. The younger generation understands it even more and they're demanding action. So my plea to you is hang in there, we need you. You're Horatio at the bridge attempting to hold back the threat that is to wipe out the progress we've made and the commitments we made. I'm telling you, that help is on the way. This position cannot be sustained. But you are the key. You are the key to keeping it from sliding all the way back to what it was before you did all the things you did during the recovery act. Together I'm absolutely confident we can do this. And, folks, parting comment. I think we've got to start to begin to believe in our people again. They're tougher than you think they are. They're ready to do great things. And looking to be led. Every one of you, my guess, was raised like I was to believe there wasn't anything you couldn't do, there wasn't a damn thing in the world that america couldn't do. This is the united states of america for god's sake. It's time to lift our heads up, man. Not walk around staring at the ground. And take these on. This is all within our wheelhouse, and you've demonstrated more than any other group of elected officials in the united states of america. God bless you for what you do and may god protect our troops. Thank you.
Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
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