Kate Sheppard, energy and environmental politics writer for Mother Jones, recently answered some questions for Planet Forward about the future of energy efficiency (http://planetforward.org/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-kate-sheppard/). Sheppard addressed Obama’s goal to make 80% of the United States’ energy sources “clean energy” by 2035–she not only believes that the goal is attainable, but asserts that we are more than 40% toward the goal already.  It is important to note that most people regard “clean energy” sources to include all renewable sources, such as plant matter, solar, wind, wave, geothermal, and tidal power.  However, Sheppard is willing to use things like nuclear energy and natural gas.  The trouble moving forward is to come to a consensus on what exactly “sustainable energy” and “clean energy” include.

But