President Obama met with Chinese President Hu Jintao today and “agreed to expand our cooperation on climate change, energy and [the] environment” among other issues, Hu told members of the press after their meeting.

“As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, there can be no solution to this challenge without the efforts of both China and the United States,” President Obama said. The leaders agreed to launch a joint U.S.-China clean energy research center, take actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to abide by any agreements that are reached at next month’s COP-15 conference in Copenhagen, a meeting of the conference of the parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC.)

The economy was also high on the leaders’ agenda. Hu said the two countries will continue to increase dialogue on financial policies and trade disagreements. They both spoke of the importance of the G20 as a body that can advance reforms of the international financial system.

“China’s partnership has proved critical in our effort to pull ourselves out of the worst recession in generations,” Obama said.

President Obama visited a solar power plant in Arcadia, Florida today, the largest of its kind in the United States. The plant provides electricity for the entire city.

To realize the full potential of solar plants, the United States needs to modernize its electrical grid, which “runs on century-old technology,” Obama said. He said it is “time to build a clean-energy superhighway” that can deliver power to people across the country in the most affordable and efficient way possible.”

The president said his administration is making the largest-ever investment in the electric grid, in the form of 100 grants totaling $3.4 billion. These grants will go to companies or cities to help them install smart-grid technologies. A fact sheet about this investment is available on the White House Web site.

Not very familiar with smart grid technologies? America.gov has a ton of material on the topic, you can check it out here.

“This is not how I expected to wake up this morning,” the president said, after hearing that the Norwegian Nobel Committee had awarded him with the prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace. “I am both surprised and deeply humbled,” he said, and “do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

“To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace,” he said.

There have been detractors in the United States and overseas for the Nobel Committee’s decision. After only nine months in office, the president’s vision of eliminating nuclear weapons and his renewed emphasis on global cooperation and dialogue to resolve challenges such as climate change and pandemic disease have not yet accomplished their goals. Obama himself said today that some of his policy goals may not be completed during his administration, and the elimination of nuclear weapons “may not be completed in my lifetime.”

But when Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland announced the decision in Oslo, he compared President Obama to other peace prize winners such as former West Berlin mayor Willy Brandt and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose own reform efforts had not been achieved when they received the prize.

“The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world,” Jagland said. “And who has done more than Barack Obama?”

The president said the prize has been used to “give momentum” to causes, and he said he sees the award, which will be given in Oslo December 10, as “a call to action” for the United States and all nations to “confront the common challenges of the 21st century.”

What do you think about this surprise announcement? Do you think this will help or inadvertently hurt President Obama as he tries to advance his policy goals?

President Obama, who I can also describe as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of my company, the U.S. federal government, ordered us to start measuring our greenhouse gas emissions and set targets within 90 days to reduce them by the year 2020.

In the president’s Executive Order, which he issued October 5, there are two important things to bear in mind with this requirement. One is that the U.S. federal government is the largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy, occupying nearly 500,000 buildings, operating more than 600,000 vehicles, and purchasing more than $500 billion per year in goods and services. I am also one of more than 1.8 million civilian employees. In other words, that’s about the same number of employees as Walmart, the world’s largest employer, had in 2005.

Which brings me to the second point: President Obama wants his employees to lead by example “when it comes to creating innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, conserve water, reduce waste, and use environmentally-responsible products and technologies.”

Along with coming up with a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, we “feds” are also being asked to meet other targets such as 50 percent recycling and waste diversion by 2015, a 30 percent reduction in vehicle-fleet petroleum use by 2020, and a 26 percent improvement in water efficiency by 2020.

I’m curious to see what plans the State Department will come up with by January 5, 2010. From my tiny little corner of the federal government, I can see one way of making my workplace more green: automatic hand dryers as an alternative to paper towels.

Meeting with world leaders at the United Nations’ Climate Change Summit, President Obama said “no nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can escape the impact of climate change.”

The effects of climate change can be reversed, Obama said. While the United States may have not done enough in the past, “it is a new era. … I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history.”

The United States is increasing its investment in renewable energies and will work with other nations to seek other solutions.

“Because no one nation can meet this challenge alone, the United States has also engaged more allies and partners in finding a solution than ever before,” Obama said. The president acknowledged that international cooperation on the topic is challenging, but that “difficulty is no excuse for complacency.”

What do you think - can the effects of climate change be reversed? And do you believe governments will work together to make this happen?

The transcript of Obama’s remarks is available on America.gov.

While addressing Ghana’s parliament today, President Obama took a moment to say something to young people, telling them that the future of their nations lie in their hands:

“You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, and end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that.”

“But these things can only be done if all of you take responsibility for your future.”

For the young people who read this blog, I want to know, do you think your generation can do all of these things?