Where are your sunglasses?

Yesterday, President Obama made the biggest impact yet of his Presidency with the scribble of his pen. In the signing of the stimulus package, the President showed his awareness and concern for change in our energy resources and consumption. He signed a package that dictated billions of dollars to various different renewable energy research and projects. While some see this plan as the government regulating our free trade system and strangling the basic principles that run our market, I see it as progress.

The following provisions were reported in a New York Times article:

• * A large sum for energy efficiency, including $5 billion for low-income weatherization programs; over $6 billion in grants for state and local governments; and several billion to modernize federal buildings, with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency.

• * $11 billion for “smart grid” investments.

• * $3.4 billion for carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects (otherwise known as “clean coal”).

• * $2 billion for research into batteries for electric cars.

• * $500 million to help workers train for “green jobs.”

• * The option, available to many developers, of turning their tax credits into direct cash, with the government underwriting 30 percent of a project’s cost.

Although I do not agree with the efficiency and environmental value of some of these technologies, I do think President Obama is giving researchers and environmentalists a chance to voice their opinion with his full attention recepting what they have to say.

Hopefully, this will be a big incentive to turn our economy and infrastructures from relying on non-renewable energy sources. The future of America is looking bright, possibly because we are looking up at our new energy source. I hope everyone has a pair of sunglasses.