Translating the Stimulus: What it Means for Energy

"During the campaign, Obama did not talk a lot about energy efficiency, but later, in the midst of the economic crisis, as he and his advisers sought to develop a jobs-focused stimulus package, the energy efficiency wing of the green lobby clearly got his attention. Although it is not glamorous, and does not yield transformational visual images of wind turbines spinning on the prairies, weatherizing houses and office buildings - and fitting them with technology to allocate energy more efficiently - is the most cost effective means to reduce American consumption of non-renewable fuels. Efficiency retrofits also have the virtue of quickly creating construction jobs. The stimulus provides an eye-grabbing $8.2 billion in block grants and other funds to states to carry out such work. The Obama Administration has lately been cranking out press releases describing exactly how much each state will receive. If you go on the E.E.R.E. Web site you can click on a map and see the allocations for any state. Obama traveled to swing-state Wisconsin last week to do some weatherizing himself, and to call attention to the provision’s local benefits."