DEC 08

In this week's YouTube address, President-Elect Obama outlined some more specific points of his economic recover plan. I suppose he could give a me another check for $200 and call it quits. But instead, it looks like he's going to use that money in the way that energy advisers have been praying someone would for ages...by increasing efficiency.

"We will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bills in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs."

I was worried that Obama would skip this remarkably unsexy and vital point of our energy future. Saving electricity is by far the best way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. And while wind, solar and other renewables are far more exciting, Obama's emphasis on efficiency is much more realistic.

Frankly, the fact that US government buildings don't already use the most efficient option for lighting is ridiculous. And he's right, not only will this create jobs and save energy, but it will, in the long run, save the government (and by extension you and me) billions of dollars.

Of course, I expect Obama to continue pushing America to grow toward a cleaner future with subsidies and grants for clean energy technologies, but if he had started there, and skipped efficiency, I would have been extremely disappointed.

Comments (8)

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good news!
written by cheekychen, December 08, 2008

music to my ears

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written by Clinch, December 08, 2008

That's the way to do it.
Invest in increasing efficiency, and soon they'll make back the investment from the money saved due to efficiency, and after the investment is payed off, use the savings to subsidise green products, so people can more easily afford, them and with the savings they make from the efficiency of their green products, they can buy more green stuff.
Or something to that effect hopefully.

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This is good
written by DJ, December 08, 2008

It's about time! I'm glad I voted for Obama. Hope he can pull it off, it would be a shame if bitter republicans politicians belittled his presidency by blocking everything that could really make a difference.

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written by Brian, December 09, 2008

Remember when he was so heartily mocked for telling folks to inflate their tires?

Scoreboard.

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Environmental Reform
written by Clark, December 09, 2008

This is exciting news. I hope that the Democrats can continue to come together in an effort for environmental reform. I think it is particularly important for us, as consumers, to support ‘green’ business. For example, http://www.simplestop.net stops your postal junk mail and benefits the environment. I hope our government will support the effort.

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doing more with less
written by asanders, December 10, 2008

that's what it's all about, and i'm glad mr. obama knows it. i had my doubts, but i think he's come around (or at least is showing it now). we need a leader that will inspire all americans to do their part in consuming less. finally, a president who is upfront and doesn't try to convince americans that consumer spending will get us out of trouble (bush's 'stimulus' checks were just shovels for digging us deeper, imho).

now if he can just come around to the idea that clean coal doesn't exist, i think we might just be able to really start making the changes we need to.

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Green Thinking
written by Karlin, January 05, 2009

There will be resistance from the Republicans in this spending plan, but hopefully the 'majority advantage' for Democrats will be able to overcome that resistance. {Republicans only want to give money to bankers -ARRRGGGG!!}

Efficiency is a certain payback - we did it in Canada years ago because it is colder here, and we found that "payback" occured in just 2 or 3 years [with smaller energy bills].
But you are right - I am much more excited about the "sexy" renewable energy initiatives. If solar and wind power can provide half of America's electricity, and if cars start running on electric power, the emissions reductions will be huge.

Plus, there is the renewable energy payback: "Pay for it ONCE, and then its FREE"

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Economic Traitors
written by umbrarchist, January 28, 2009

It is 40 years after the Moon landing and our economists have not been telling the American people how much they have lost on the depreciation of automobiles since then. There have been 200,000,000+ automobiles in the United States since 1995. That is more cars than there were Americans in the 1930s. If each car lost $1,500 per year that would be $300,000,000,000. Since 1995 that would amount to FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS.

Is that what the US fought the Vietnam War for?

Economists that can't do ALGEBRA.

When is Obama going to make accounting mandatory in our high schools?

GlobaLIES

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