I think the Recovery Through Retrofit is a really slick idea. You can watch an introduction of it here. But, to briefly summarize:
- The government is going to derive standards for energy efficiency of homes (like they do for cars and appliances)
- Neighborhoods are going to be encouraged to band together to have their homes upgraded for energy efficiency
- The upgrades will be paid for by the individuals via financing. The efficiency standards should insure that more money saved on a regular basis will be more than that which is spent in financing charges
- Local small businesses will do the the retrofitting, hiring and training as needed
From a green perspective, the outcome is equivalent to getting millions of cars off of the road; from a business perspective it's a boom to local entrepreneurs; from a financial perspective it's a stimulus for both the home owner and the community in general. And it's all done not through some big faceless government program, but through neighbors working together.
Obama has talked about how we don't need bigger government or smaller government - we need smarter government. And this kind of program strikes me as just that. I sure hope they can pull this one off.
Read more about it here.
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