Energy Incentives in the Obama Stimulus Package

President Obama talked about green jobs and rebuilding America in many of his speeches throughout the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Now it is time for a real look at what he is proposing in his stimulus plan.

Chief among Obama’s green committments are money for heat insulation and energy conservation in low income homes; an initiative to modernize federal buildings; a new and improved power grid, and R&D money to build more renewables. All of these are present in the Obama stimulus plan. So far the new President seems to be a man of his word.

Obama’s stimulus plan even seems to deal with fine nuances that most people would not assume a Government would cover. For instance, the development of new electric battery technologies for hybrid cars and purely electric cars is included in the plan.

All of these details are incredibly important for the short-term and especially the long-term health of the U.S. economy. In the short term, as contracts are awarded to private companies to fulfill various government agencies imperatives laid out in the stimulus plan, these companies will have to hire more people to fulfill their contractual obligations. In turn, the companies that provide parts or raw materials will also have an increased demand for their products. This will all result in more and more jobs as time goes on. This process will take 6 months to a year to really get going however, so be patient and remember, miracles do not happen overnight.

In the longer-term, green technologies may be to the 21st century American economy as automobiles were to the majority of the 20th century economy. If America can start to produce cutting edge green technology, we can export this technology all around the world and reap in the profits. It will be a long road, but the payoff is worth it.