Vice President Joe Biden wrote in a memo to Obama that the administration's clean-energy initiatives, including investments from the stimulus package passed earlier this year, put "us on a track to meet the goal of doubling our renewable energy generation, including solar, wind and geothermal, in just 3 years."

Several key provisions in the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which the House passed 219-212, lays down the foundation for the country to generate more electricity from renewable energy, including wind and solar. Key parts of the bill include:

• A renewable energy and efficiency standard that requires utilities to supply an increasing percentage of electricity from renewable energy, in addition to efficiency savings. This standard starts at 6 percent in 2012 and increases to 20 percent by 2020.

• Provisions for developing a smart grid to move renewable energy from rural areas where it's produced to more populated urban areas.

• Requires the Energy secretary to establish Clean Energy Innovation Centers, which will "promote commercial deployment of clean, indigenous energy alternatives to fossil fuels."

Speaking at a wind turbine manufacturing facility in Iowa, Obama announced that the Interior Department will for the first time authorize the leasing of federal waters for renewable energy projects, such as wind and ocean currents.

The energy bill draft proposed by Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., requires no less than 6 percent of the nation's electricty to be generated through renewable energy programs in 2012, compared to 3 percent now. By 2025, a quarter of the country's power would be required to come from renewable energy.

Federal dollars to subsidize loans for renewable energy projects were limited to $6 billion in the final stimulus bill signed by President Obama. The package also provides about $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and increased efficiency, including increased tax credits for wind, geothermal, hydropower and landfill gas energy, as well as grants for renewable energy facilities.

The compromise stimulus package emerging from the House and Senate negotiations provides loan subsidies worth $13.9 billion for renewable energy projects.

The House-approved stimulus package includes $13 billion to extend renewable energy tax credits.  The bill would also expand the 30 percent investment tax credit to renewable industries other than solar power, though it would be limited to plants receiving investments this year or next.