Stimulate Clean Energy Apollo Project!

In his Saturday Democratic radio address, Senator Charles Schumer argued that the economic stimulus package being negotiated by the Congress and the Bush White House could include "longer-term investments such as in clean energy and infrastructure."

Schumer's idea is the right one. Stimulus spending can have an impact beyond avoiding recession. It should help America to achieve other high-priority goals, particularly energy independence and action on global warming.

President Bush and Democratic leaders in Congress are looking to cooperate on emergency legislation to spend up to $100 billion for short-term economic stimulus aimed at avoiding economic recession from the decline of housing prices and oil that has reached $100 per barrel. The White House wants to avoid a recession that will likely hurt Republican candidates in November, and Democrats want the stimulus targeted to middle and low-income Americans.

Short-term clean energy stimulus would focus not on long-term R&D but rather on the widespread commercialization of already available technologies. A good first step would be to use some of the stimulus for a "Clean Energy and Efficiency Revolving Fund" to loan businesses and homeowners the money they need to do efficiency retrofits of houses and buildings, and to install solar systems.

Efficiency investments more than pay for themselves through reduced electricity costs, and solar panel systems are now cheap enough that they pay for themselves in as few as 15 years. These solar and efficiency loans would immediately create jobs for electricians and installers. The stimulus would thus also satisfy the desire to "target" working-class communities most affected by higher gasoline prices, the housing crisis, and economic slowdown.

Next, a direct investment should be made in clean energy infrastructure. To help power the nation %u2014 including cars and trucks. The cover story of this month's Scientific American is a plan by two energy experts to invest $400 billion over 40 years in massive solar production in the sunny Southwest so that solar provides two-thirds of America's electricity, and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050. (Today we get less than one percent of our total energy from the sun.)

Finally, to help free America from oil, part of the stimulus should be used to give significant tax credits for electric vehicles, hybrids, and other highly efficient cars. The tax credits should be generous enough to stimulate Americans to retire their gas-guzzlers immediately. This approach would stimulate the automobile industry in the short-term (even many Japanese cars and trucks are now manufactured in the U.S.) and help reduce our dependence on oil over the long-term

In his Saturday Democratic radio address, Senator Charles Schumer argued that the economic stimulus package being negotiated by the Congress and the Bush White House could include "longer-term investments such as in clean energy and infrastructure."

Schumer's idea is the right one. Stimulus spending can have an impact beyond avoiding recession. It should help America to achieve other high-priority goals, particularly energy independence and action on global warming.

President Bush and Democratic leaders in Congress are looking to cooperate on emergency legislation to spend up to $100 billion for short-term economic stimulus aimed at avoiding economic recession from the decline of housing prices and oil that has reached $100 per barrel. The White House wants to avoid a recession that will likely hurt Republican candidates in November, and Democrats want the stimulus targeted to middle and low-income Americans.

Short-term clean energy stimulus would focus not on long-term R&D but rather on the widespread commercialization of already available technologies. A good first step would be to use some of the stimulus for a "Clean Energy and Efficiency Revolving Fund" to loan businesses and homeowners the money they need to do efficiency retrofits of houses and buildings, and to install solar systems.

Efficiency investments more than pay for themselves through reduced electricity costs, and solar panel systems are now cheap enough that they pay for themselves in as few as 15 years. These solar and efficiency loans would immediately create jobs for electricians and installers. The stimulus would thus also satisfy the desire to "target" working-class communities most affected by higher gasoline prices, the housing crisis, and economic slowdown.

Next, a direct investment should be made in clean energy infrastructure. To help power the nation %u2014 including cars and trucks. The cover story of this month's Scientific American is a plan by two energy experts to invest $400 billion over 40 years in massive solar production in the sunny Southwest so that solar provides two-thirds of America's electricity, and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050. (Today we get less than one percent of our total energy from the sun.)

Finally, to help free America from oil, part of the stimulus should be used to give significant tax credits for electric vehicles, hybrids, and other highly efficient cars. The tax credits should be generous enough to stimulate Americans to retire their gas-guzzlers immediately. This approach would stimulate the automobile industry in the short-term (even many Japanese cars and trucks are now manufactured in the U.S.) and help reduce our dependence on oil over the long-term

In his Saturday Democratic radio address, Senator Charles Schumer argued that the economic stimulus package being negotiated by the Congress and the Bush White House could include "longer-term investments such as in clean energy and infrastructure."

Schumer's idea is the right one. Stimulus spending can have an impact beyond avoiding recession. It should help America to achieve other high-priority goals, particularly energy independence and action on global warming.

Short-term clean energy stimulus would focus not on long-term R&D but rather on the widespread commercialization of already available technologies. A good first step would be to use some of the stimulus for a "Clean Energy and Efficiency Revolving Fund" to loan businesses and homeowners the money they need to do efficiency retrofits of houses and buildings, and to install solar systems.

Efficiency investments more than pay for themselves through reduced electricity costs, and solar panel systems are now cheap enough that they pay for themselves in as few as 15 years. These solar and efficiency loans would immediately create jobs for electricians and installers. The stimulus would thus also satisfy the desire to "target" working-class communities most affected by higher gasoline prices, the housing crisis, and economic slowdown.

Next, a direct investment should be made in clean energy infrastructure. To help power the nation %u2014 including cars and trucks. The cover story of this month's Scientific American is a plan by two energy experts to invest $400 billion over 40 years in massive solar production in the sunny Southwest so that solar provides two-thirds of America's electricity, and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050. (Today we get less than one percent of our total energy from the sun.)

Finally, to help free America from oil, part of the stimulus should be used to give significant tax credits for electric vehicles, hybrids, and other highly efficient cars. The tax credits should be generous enough to stimulate Americans to retire their gas-guzzlers immediately. This approach would stimulate the automobile industry in the short-term (even many Japanese cars and trucks are now manufactured in the U.S.) and help reduce our dependence on oil over the long-term.