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Obama Orders Agencies to Use 20 Percent Green Power

The federal government will have until 2020 to get one-fifth of its electricity from renewable sources.

This story has been updated. 

President Obama on Thursday announced that the federal government must obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

The Associated Press first reported the plan and obtained a copy of a presidential memorandum on renewable energy that will apply to civilian and military agencies.

"The government currently has a goal of using 7.5 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, but Obama said recent increases in renewable energy supplies make the new 20 percent goal achievable by 2020," AP reported Wednesday evening.

Click here to view the memo, which also asks agency officials to take additional steps toward making buildings more energy efficient. 

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