Green Stimulus Plan Idea: Require Energy Star For Government

You'd already guessed it ... but now it's official: The U.S. has been in recession since December 2007. The official announcement was made Monday, followed by yet another drop in the Dow.

My own belief (and the economic consensus is moving in this direction, too) is that public fiscal stimulus is needed stat. Ben Bernanke has tried his best with monetary policy, but the interest rates controlled by the Fed are so low that there's not much left to cut.

One quick fix is available to either the current Administration or to the incoming one, and it's a green one: Complete the pending Department of Energy regulations requiring federal agencies to buy and supply only Energy Star or similarly designated products for all procurements involving energy consumption. The regulations, mandated under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, would also require federal purchasing officials to identify and prominently display such products in inventories and listings.

Read the full story here

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Comments

[SimJack]

Does anyone have a link to a cost/benefit comparison of the screw in fluorescent bulbs to low voltage LED lighting. Not just price to energy ratio but also average expected lifetime and the environmental impact of disposal or recycling. Seems like there's a big push for the fluorescents but they contain some potentially harmful chemical compounds that shouldn't find there way into landfills, soil, air or water.

[KenGirard]

I don't have anything proof wise, I do have the trip I took today to the hardware store to offer up evidence.
One 100 watt equivalent compact florescent cost around $2.00
The LED system I saw that was about as bright cost $39.00.

Now the LED was an entire light fixture holding 5 white LEDs, while the florescent was just a screw in bulb, but I've never seen a LED that worked with our current system, so I can not eliminate the cost of an entire new fixture from the cost.

What this means is that if the Government want to install LEDs in their buildings they have to hire an electrician to put them in. Or they can have the normal guy screw in a light.

Putting LEDs in a building as it is being built might make sense. Getting them into an older building... not so much.

So chemicals are bad in the ground... where did we get them from? Maybe we should just put them back.

[SimJack]

Thanks, that's quite a cost difference and as you say, if rewiring is necessary even more so.

[Wiredwilly]

" Ben Bernanke has tried his best .." Are you totally insane ? Bernanke is a criminal who should be behind bars. Watch Aaron Russo's film " From Freedom to Fascism " on Youtube.

[vfx]

So the President should enact legislation that requires all the US (GSA) -all federal agencies across the board to buy Energy Star rated products effective Jan 20th. Then pressure all state and local government agencies to follow suit.

Then the cars. Require that all US Government vehicles be replaced in two years with US made electric versions. Also, make State and Local government want to follow suit with Fed incentives. (for the private sector offer huge incentives for all corporate and rental fleets over 500 cars)
That breaks the chicken/egg cycle. Now automakers have buyers. No more excuses. Build the cars, the infrastructure of charging stations will go in, and the public will get on board. Next stop, the military.

[research]

Yes!

This points to a huge instant investment that will revitalize the economy:

solar wind efficiency in all government facilities.

1 trillion dollars in wind and solar would have a pay pack of:

100M-500M$ per year! for 20-40 years!

See my profile for details.

[pokemon]

My wife is an artist and hates the light these produce. So while I have convinced her to heat with wood, buy some chickens and are moving towards solar panels and a new roof I doubt we will EVER have these until the light is better.

[BushBites]

LED lights are the future.

These are just a stopgap.

[alvdh1]

The government should demand that the banking and financial institutions who receive federal money finance the conversion of federal buildings to 100% LED lighting, solar and wind. The loans would be repaid by the Fed's from the energy savings created by the conversion at a small interest rate. With LED lighting, the payback would be 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years. The lighting should be converted first so that each installation minimizes the the number of wind turbines and solar panels required. Facilities that can utilize geothermal heating and cooling should be converted at the same time before being equiped with wind and solar.

The savings to taxpayers under this program would be enormous. Other lending institutions who do not participate in receiving federal funds could also lend to the government for green energy and efficiency conversions could participate as well. The next step for the new administration is to provide access to the grid for residential and small business producers of green energy at full retail electric rates. This would not require any subsidies from the fed's, because their would be enough financial incentive for people to make the capital expenditure when they know they are going to receive full retail rates for their excess capacity.

A 5-10 percent surcharge could be applied for grid maintanence to satisfy the utilities.

[rjmiller]

You can get different color temperatures. The ones that are labelled "warm" are pretty much the same color as incandescents, although there is still the slight 60Hz flicker.

[joeneri]

Tell her to try landscape painting.

[AddictedToHope]

And I think president Obama should reinstall the solar panels on the White House that Reagan had removed when he moved in. Perhaps a small wind turbine or two.

[kgb999]

Changed out the bulbs in my house for those twisty ones ... cut my power consumption by like 60%. Between that and some simple habit changes (turning off lights, etc.) I've been able to seriously reduce my power bill.

I don't see how it fixes our financial crisis - but this is a great thing for the government to require their departments to do.

[Tom95134]

The top of the regulation should require that they purchase only Energy Star CFLs that were made in the U.S. Why buy off-shore made products when we need these kind of industries at home.

[Enid]

Purchased some of these florescent bulbs. Expensive when first introduced. At the opening of Ikea in Oakland they had a crate with these bulbs packed with straw. The price was just a dollar or two.
Over ten years now and they still are used everyday and have moved with me three times.

[lvogt]

...and buy American. Also require and give tax and contract incentives for all machinery and vehicles used in infrastructure projects to run on natural gas or other energy efficient fuel.

[DLTooley]

Green Stars for government is definitely a good idea, hopefully it won't be messed up.

More difficult is the auto industry. Some have suggested that it ought to be the oil industry that steps up to the plate for the bailout - certainly they are an interested party.

I think there is a big opportunity here to make a major step forward with green technology - oil companies have distribution networks and those networks will be necessary for such things as natural gas and/or hydrogen hybrids. The oil companies should step up to bear the costs of creating the supply system for the next generation of vehicles that the auto industry will be creating.

The green star program would be a way of giving such a forward looking endeavor a bit of priming - by the purchase of an initial set of government fleet vehicles AND supply contracts.

Natural gas is pretty much ready to go, the expansion of the supply network is really the only obstacle. Hydrogen is a bit farther off, but probably feasible within 5 years. I don't know the technical details, but there are certainly some synergies between natural gas and hydrogen gas delivery systems. The tanks are likely compatible and, certainly, the experience of delivering gases in a retail and/or multiple fleet environment would be useful.

Douglas Tooley
http://motleytools.com/blog