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Pete2
1/15/2009 8:37 PM | I think a lot of us are more curious of what the government plans to do and has done to try and solve the issue. When do we all start seeing progress? Why doe we always see people being shot, robbed, cheated, and tortured on the news, start shouting out what your doing so that we dont feel like we're bouncing ideas off of a wall. We want to see the new plans for the next energy source, hear possible ideas on how to implement them and how will we convert the industry of transportation. Sometimes it almost seems as if the government needs to speak up a little louder. |
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Flaming Moderate
1/15/2009 8:39 PM | Mr Obama, the U.S. is far from being the greenest nation although we should, with our wealth and technology, be showing the way for others. Won't you please help? It is most unfortunate that to date you have seemed to be seriously considering pumping new life into the dead Trojan Horse of nuclear power. I would urge you at this point to face reality and face the sun. Nuclear is an incredibly complex, hi-tech, problem-rife, irredeemable, unfixable, bludgeoning, Stoneage approach to generation dating from the early 1950s. It is the very most expensive, dangerous and polluting way of producing energy ever invented. Although radiation is deceptively invisible, it creates hundreds of thousands of cancers and birth defects continuing and multiplying over many generations of time (see Dr. Alice Stewart, Oxford and Hanford radiation studies). Important too is that it's impossible to chase after nuclear and seriously pursue green alternatives simultaneously. The power-centralizing nuclear industry, like a raging dragon, breaks all promises and eats up almost every dollar available for many years, before a new installation becomes a net energy producer at all. No capital left. It's the very worst investment bet too; no one will touch it, which is certainly why you have been planning to have legislation passed which would give a government guarantee to these future bad nuclear investments. Yet another "bailout". Saddling taxpayer and ratepater with the crushing costs of well-known imprudence once again. If we hadn't all already been dragged through such experiences, and if government, Detroit and others had listened to to energy researcher Amory Lovins many years ago, our nation would be in quite a good position right now. During the1970s Lovins offered our nation the soft, easy energy path, rather than the hard (nuclear) one we chose to take. (his 13,739 word study Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?, 1976) Today Lovins is more productive than ever at his Rocky Mountain Institute, advising companies and organizations on energy efficiency and methods. Efficiency can deliver us many times more energy (through power savings) than would be produced by an entire new generation of nuclear plants. It can do so while creating hundreds of times more jobs than does nuclear power. See Amory Lovins interviewed on charlierose.com or other sites. The Rocky Mountain Institute is at rmi.org. |
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Neil A Lizotte
1/15/2009 9:56 PM | Lets start a industrial revolution in North America! Have You of Raphial Morgado with Angel Labs and His green invention the Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) Motor. Raphial Morgado won first prize in a Nasa future engine design contest. The MYT Engine is one of the lowest polluting engines in the World and it was invented in the USA. The MYT motor will give a SUV the same MPG or better than a very small car. The MYT motor can be made to power a portable generator or large enough to power the largest cargo ship. The MYT engine can run on Hydrogen, gas, Diesel and all types of bio fuels. Angel Labs is ready to mass produce the MYT motor and expects to put between 2 & 3 million Americans to work making the motor and retrofiting vehicles with the motor. Angels Labs is a investment opportunity of a life time, if You have $10,000,000.00 lend for start up. Several million dollars have been spent on the MYT engine. When will our governments invest in Angel Labs? How much is 2 to 3 million high paying jobs worth? |
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KevinDickmann
1/15/2009 10:34 PM | Instead of having to build power plants and then contruct power lines to devliver electricity to our homes, require all new homes be built with solar panels. Each home will become self suffient. Older homes will follow as the price of solar powered homes become the norm.
kevin/09 |
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Blue Idaho
1/16/2009 12:40 AM | This would be a great idea that I would vote for if it weren't so intuitive/in line with Obama's policy as already stated/not helpful at all. Instead of saying why we should become green and what it would do for us, how about suggestions as to HOW we do this? That would be a much better use of the President's time. |
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Blue Idaho
1/16/2009 12:41 AM | (PS, some of the comments are good though-those people should start their own threads with their ideas on HOW) |
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TheRightToHaveRights
1/16/2009 3:26 AM | Dear Citizen,
Please click on my name, click on "Ideas Submitted" and vote on the most important amendment in history! :)
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Vulpes Velox
1/16/2009 5:26 AM | Meh...
1: Don't bail out brain dead companies.
2: Lower vehicle safety requirements. These negatively impact a vehicles MPG as they drastically increase the weight.
3: The federal government should not be in the job of building power plants. This should be left up to various investors and the like.
4: No new subsidies for various energy related things and remove any existing ones. This ensures the best technology will win out.
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fivemetalstrings
1/16/2009 5:42 AM | Don't forget that we are not the only polluter in the world. We need to fix ourselves first, and once we figure that out we can get the world to go along, too. |
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BPorter
1/16/2009 6:50 AM | Could you be more specific? |
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Angroid
1/16/2009 6:55 AM | This is silly. How would you suppose we do that? Would the investmentbe less than the savings?
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timcrawf
1/16/2009 8:06 AM | I have to agree regarding Amory Lovins. The man has the solution. Please listen to what he has to say. You can find many of his lectures at itconversations.com
Here is one, look in the "People who like this also like..." column for more.
Implications for Energy Efficiency |
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VideoCT
1/16/2009 8:30 AM | how exactly will this put people to work. You would first need to re-train people to work in the green economy. |
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RogerARTcom
1/16/2009 8:47 AM | |
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skipg
1/16/2009 8:49 AM | If not already a part of the overall US energy plan, start with the basics (for example, for the ideas and initiatives laid out in the Pickens Plan) and build upon that with realistic, pragmatic and beneficial ideas. Publish this information on a readily accessible web site so that we can apply American ingenuity to improve and implement these great ideas. |
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Dr. Marinescu
1/16/2009 10:30 AM | I just voted to support the idea of the USA becoming the "greenest" country in the world with the sincere conviction that its realization is possible in a relatively short period of time. However, the term "greenest" (as the quotes suggest) could mean a lot of things. To achieve this goal, the US policymakers should integrate sustainability criteria and indicators (as defined, for example, by the Montreal Process) in every single law that they propose. When the US laws will be passed based solely on a system of criteria and indicators for sustainability, then we will know that our country is on a fast track of becoming the greenest country in the World. It is possible. |
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HeatPumper
1/16/2009 12:02 PM | Here is an important contribution to how we can go green. Improve, build and apply more flexible and efficient heat pumps wherever the required heat is at moderate temperature. The scope of this technology is under-appreciated. Consider that heating water from house temperature to 80 Celsius requires one tenth of the electric power when done by an 'ideal' heat pump than by the normal direct heating. We cannot reach this ideal performance but even now can get a dramatic energy reduction and research and development can get us even further. This observation is just based on thermodynamics which is after all the science of energy efficiency. The contributions under the 'geothermal' have got part of this story.
Heat pumps use energy, usually electric, to change the temperature of heat either increasing it as a heater or cooling it for refrigeration or air-conditioning. Many other applications abound. Multiple applications of heat pumps would greatly reduce the required electric power needed from 'green', sustainable and home-grown energy.
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Rob Beeson
1/16/2009 12:05 PM | To all the people wondering how to do this.
I support many of the ideas in the book Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. Carbon Taxes, Cap and Trades, and other tax incentives all have flaws but doing nothing is far worse.
I would encourage everyone reading this to read or find a summary of his book for a better explanation.
I also support the ideas expressed in Cradle-to-Cradle by William McDonough. I think
http://www.c2ccertified.com/Cradle-to-Cradle Certification should be a free but mandatory process for all consumer products. Just as all food goes through the FDA, so should all products including food get a C2C certification. If the product does not comply it will be labeled as such and will be charged for the certification process. Many states (probably starting with California) will place bans on non-C2C certified products.
My general guidelines are:
- Get rid of all subsidies. They skew the market and are not long-term ideas.
- Make waste expensive then illegal. Waste is not necessary in any industry if designed in closed recyclable loops (biological or technical).
- Taxes should tax pollution not people. I HATE TAXES, I don’t want anyone to pay more taxes. In order to pay for the things I am talking about, industries that pollute should pay for the solutions to the problems they caused.
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anna banana
1/16/2009 12:09 PM | I am a recent Republican convert, and I'm afraid I'm just not passionate about "green" causes nor am I convinced that mankind can do anything about global warming.
HOWEVER, the country that eliminates the need for oil in transportation (which is the way the vast majority of US consumed oil is used) will have created for themselves the next auto industry/computer industry/oil industry of the 21st century.
PLUS, the energy independence means greater national security, more jobs, and, yes, a help to the enivornment(alists). We spent 1-2 trillion in Iraq, I think a fraction of this spent on non-oil energies means we can ignore the Middle East forever... |
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globalfrontier
1/16/2009 12:22 PM | Committing to becoming the “Greenest” country in the world is an important cause to work on. But going green will not have any impact on helping American industries competitive in global markets.
In addtion to green energy sources, making manufcturing technologies "green" is important. But developing "green" manufactguring technologies will be costly and not cost-efficient production technologies, especially in the beginning of developing those technologies, until these green technologies mature and become those of mass-production, etc, to be cost-effective.
In the beginning stage, making American manufacturing to use green technologies may make their cost/price competitiveness in the world worse off, especially the rest of world rely on traditional, familiar, cheaper technologies. The only way to avoide this scenaro while enforcing "green technologies" would be to negotiate international talks / agreements to demand other national also demand their manufacturing to employ "green technologies." This would help the Big Cause of "Saving the Planet", but will require whole lot of efforts, devotion, and visions to actually embark on it.
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Jim McCue
1/16/2009 12:45 PM | Lets begin our commitment to the Greenest Country by implementing the Pickens Plan into our National Energy Policy (NEP) and end our dependence on foreign oil. |
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Anne TN
1/16/2009 12:57 PM | This is America's responsibility! I firmly believe that if we don't make this commitment it will never get done! No one else has the ability to influence as many people as our country does! |
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TheMurph
1/16/2009 1:05 PM | |
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Chito
1/16/2009 1:16 PM | Aside from creating efficient cars and producing alternative sources of energy, one of the concentration should be in creating an energy/utility efficient houses and building. Heating, Lighting, Powering and watering residences and building are the big share of the expense of the average family.
Retrofitting old house to be efficient will bring more jobs and will make us closer to use less energy
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Fema trailer victim
1/16/2009 2:03 PM |
This will put hundreds back to work immediately and if we want to be "Green" we won't throw away valuable assets like the Billions of $$$ we have invested in these trailers.
Government Works Project-- ReMake the Fema Trailers & Get them ready
I feel that this would be a great project to put people back to work + we would have the added bonus that they would be ready for the next natural disaster. The trailer manf. should have to pay for the labor and FEMA the material.
I read last week in the news on the internet that FEMA paid over $18,000 for each trailer~~~ I don't think we can afford to just throw that away. They made the problem and should be required to fix it----both are to BLAME. All they keep doing is pointing the finger at the other. Figure a 50/50 split in cost----------that sounds fair to me.
Plus +++++++++
Did you know that there are somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 families still living in the formaldehyde trailers because they will NOT buy them back or take care of other housing for these people?
Fema made one rule and it did NOT fit everyone. While they were covering up the problem of the formaldehyde poison they sold off as many trailers as they could via auctions to RV dealers. These dealers then sold to 1,000's of unknowing poor people these trailers and when told by FEMA to buy them back at the same price they sold them~~~~they just closed up shop and disappeared leaving all of us to die. Fema doesn't care after all we are the poor who can't afford to hire a lawyer to help us.
Please help President Obama!!
We could then house some of our Veterans, Emergency Health Care worker, people of road & bridge works projects, energy & environment projects. It would be a Win-Win-Win project. |
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urantian69
1/16/2009 2:49 PM | After listening to Dr. Steven Chu, I a fearful that this man is an educated idiot. You should reconsider this very important position with someone who has a grasp on reality and practices real science! |
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ConservativeLiberal
1/16/2009 4:47 PM | This is a no-brainer, and there are a lot of great ideas in these comments. I am writing to try to help formulate a Big Picture "policy mandate" for Obama to run with. I recently saw the excellent film The 11th Hour, and I recommend that everyone concerned with this issue see that film. In many ways, it is better than An Inconvenient Truth. For one thing, it speaks more coherently about solutions to the problem.
The Big problem we have is nothing less than the way we think! Faith-based, institutional religions--among other forces--have taught us all to have a very anthropocentric [human-centered] worldview and attitude. We live in a world where endless "growth," "development," exploitation and profit accrue to the benefit of human-kind, and human-kind alone. However, this planet is a finite resource. Therfore, if we are to live quality lives in a sustainable way, then we need a truly sustainable economic structure more than anything else.
Current economic models do not--as far as I know--even consider the value of the natural environment, nor do they really recognize that this planet is finite. The "Chicago School" of economics--and the Nobel Prize given to Milton Friedman--are emblematic of the problem. Therefore, the first step in all this "Greening of America" is for america to invent a new economics. THAT will be the springboard that propells us to the forefront of the world!
Come on you "green" economists... I know you're out there. Obama should form a think tank to solve this Big economic issue before we bumble blindly down this road. I would advise including Thom Hartmann and Ravi Batra in this think tank.
I still see that a lot of people are confused around the issue of jobs, spending, consumption, and economics. What we don't need is more jobs that produce more stuff that we have to consume to keep the economy going... this is a vicious cycle, and not a sustainable model. |
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derinever
1/16/2009 9:14 PM | Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc.
4707 140th Avenue North, Suite 116
Clearwater, Florida 33762
Phone: 1-727-531-5979
Fax: 1-727-531-3670
Mr. Denny Klein, President
Mr. Peter Dominici, Vice President of Finance & Information
Patent Car runs on very little water |
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Archibilly
1/16/2009 9:28 PM | TheRealist fails to mention conservation. Through the implementation of sustainable design practices, we can vastly reduce of greatest drain on America's energy resources, our built environment. |
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OBAMA_PLEASE_READ_
1/16/2009 11:48 PM | Please Vote Up UFO disclosure if you want the greenest technology available |
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Dr.Kim
1/17/2009 1:00 AM | Currently in the US, millions of tons of this waste material from coal is dumped into our landfills. This Waste Fly Ash creates a danger to our environment. Arsenic, mercury and other toxic poisons are in this residue. When this is left deposited to lay in our landfills it is a direct threat to the safety of our land, water and air. It will accumulate and create a concentration of these toxins, it is an environmental time bomb. Just a few weeks ago, the state of Tennessee experienced this catastrophic disaster. Alabama this past week had a near mishap and currently 32 states are overwhelmed with this potential problem.The clean up
cost in Tennessee will be in the millions of dollars. We have at hand a solution to this problem.
I want you to be aware that currently there are companies using Waste Fly Ash. However, the difference with this product is the patented Accelerator. It makes it very unique in it's performance, stability and reliability. When Waste Fly Ash is combined with cement and the patented product, the toxic residue is rendered inert, it is encapsulated forever. The inventor has developed a technology for relining pipes without excavation.I would also like to add that this is US technology and is a Colorado based Company.
I would also like to add that buildings from this material are thermogenic and will reduce energy consumption by 50%. This allows for Solar and Wind energy
to be the primary source of additional energy. It is also mold resistant and an additive can be added that reduces 99.9% of bacteria. I also witnessed a blow torch up against this material directly for over 15 minutes, it does not burn! This technology needs to be implemented for new and rebuild construction. Homes lost to fire would be rendered obsolete!
This product is the Paradigm shift that is needed to protect and save our environment, our Country, our World and to secure our future today and tomorrow that our planet will survive and over come the indiscretions of the past.
Respectfully,
Kimberly Matteo
Henderson, Colorado 80640
720-335-6556
If we all looked ahead 7 generations through our hearts while planning our decisions,
the condition of humanity would influence the condition of the planet very
quickly.
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PhxKen
1/17/2009 1:01 AM | Since this is the winning Energy & Environment popular idea, than it means putting the greenest man alive in as Deputy Sec of Energy & Environment (new combined post):
Ed Begley Jr, actor, (Living Like Ed). As knowledgable and walker of the talk as they come. |
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rsimeone
1/17/2009 5:38 AM | Establish Sustainable Forest Economies
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was established in 1993 by a broad global coalition of forest stakeholders involving environmentalists (including World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, and others), social and community organizers (including indigenous peoples, local forest workers, and others), and the timber industry and others with a direct economic stake in how forests are managed.
Today the FSC is recognized as the "gold standard" in sustainable forest management (see: www.fsc.org). In the past 15 years, over 250 million acres of forest have been certified by the FSC in over 65 countries, which has resulted in the creation of a truly sustainable economy for thousands of forest communities around the world.
The forest product potential of the US is huge and forest-based industries could drive significant economic development in rural America if it can be established on a sustainable foundation. The Obama administration should broaden the sustainable forestry debate in this country, incorporating the experience of the FSC, in a renewed effort to establish sustainable economies in the numerous forest districts and communities throughout the US. This effort would create hundreds of thousands of jobs in rural economies, reinvigorate the forest industry sector, and increase the availability of sustainably-produced wood products in the US and for export.
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rmatix
1/17/2009 6:12 AM | If you wonder how to do this, please check
"No Energy No Life" here on the citizensbriefingbook.
http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=087800000004vEO&lsr=0#comments
Have a nice day :-)
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Mohammad Ali
1/17/2009 6:52 AM | So many great ideas have been posted on this message board.Truth will be evident in a few months.Let us see if Obama will listen to these appeals, or this is one of many feel good outlets for helpless citizens. |
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Ishael
1/17/2009 7:29 AM | Here I am reposting comments I placed in other parts of the forum, as they apply here as well, read them give me feedback, and discuss the issues openly!
<hr>
Check out the Aptera at www.aptera.com This amazing vehicle gets no less than 130 miles per gallon! The maximum mileage approache 1000mpg along an exponential curve, the actual mileage depends on the owners actions of how often he or she plugs in the Aptera for recharging. The hybrid mileage seems to average out at 300mpg.
Ishael
1/17/2009 7:11 AM
This kind of car should recieve bonus incentives to urge people into buying them, such as grants to lover the cost of the vehicle (which is around $29,990 for the 2h series gasoline hybrid). This is an amazing and beautiful car, but it is rather expensive for the people who would benefit from it the most (the working poor, such as myself). I want one, and will do what I have to to acquire one, because I love the Aptera and I want to spread the word and change the world!
Ishael
1/17/2009 7:23 AM
Subsidis this car for people like me who can't afford it, so we can revoilutionize the auto industry and break free from the fossil fuel stranglehold!
Like I said, the people who will benefit the most by the Aptera are those people who are least able to get it. These people include college students (such as myself) who try to save money at every opportunity by shopping at Goodwill (you can find some pretty good stuff there for dirt cheap, I know from experience!), utilizing bicycles and public transportation instead of cars to save money on fuel (protein bars and Poweraid are a lot cheaper than gasoline), also dining on campus and at the local soup kitchen, shopping at food pantries, usind services such as the Colorado Quest card for food assistance to purchase items in grocery stores, living in off-campus housing in houses with many roommates who distribute the burden of rent fairly instead of the outrageous costs of dorms and apartments.
All I'm saying is help us help ourselves by providing more
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derinever
1/17/2009 7:49 AM | We at Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc. (HTA) sincerely appreciate the inquiry you have made in our company and particularly in the developments we are pursuing in the automotive arena.
Our Vehicle Application will be tested on tractor trailers in the very near future. Upon completion (which will take the rest of 2008 and 2009 to accomplish), we will be releasing our application for passenger cars (this probably won't happen before early 2010).
At this time we do not have an estimate on cost for our application. We are not currently looking for independent dealers or installers of our product. It will most likely be available through franchised dealerships (such as Ford, Toyota, etc) for installation. Watch our website for announcements.
Again, we are very grateful for your inquiry and respectfully ask for your continued interest and patience as we work diligently to advance our automotive technology in the most efficient and conscientious manner possible. (THIS WAS TAKEN FROM WEBSITE
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Jfamilyman
1/17/2009 8:48 AM | Support the CAP-AND-DIVIDEND concept for greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. Because it limits the permits or allowances for GHG pollution it assures emission reductions. It also avoids the inefficiency and horsetrading involved in creating a huge new government fund to be manipulated by Congress or bureaucrats. See http://www.capanddividend.org/
The atmosphere belongs to all of us. The revenue taken in for GHG allowances should be distributed equally to all citizens as dividends (a la the oil dividend checks that Alaska residents get each year). This will provide some protection from higher costs for low income people and seniors and put money in the hands of other Americans. Think economic stimulus.
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marina9876
1/17/2009 9:04 AM | Let's face it. Americans, in general, will not go green if it costs more in the short term to do so. We need to put pressure on industry - transportation, home appliance, etc - to start bringing prices down. Whatever profit they lose in the short term they will likely make up in the long term when the energy efficient products are bought in higher quantities. We also need government incentives that motivate people to make the purchase sooner rather than later and to help make up for any higher cost of the energy efficient product. (I mean real government incentives - not the ones offered under the Bush Administration that require a magnifying glass to read the fine print.
It is absurd that American car companies are primarily designing energy efficient autos that will cater to the wealthier Americans. Where are the economy cars? If they continue to think energy efficient Cadillacs, then they do not deserve to survive! |
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Rob Beeson
1/17/2009 9:47 AM | I generally disagree with subsidies because they encourage behavior only within the confines of the tax law.
I think America has the innovative power to bring many new solutions we have not thought of yet and they wont get any of the subsidy money.
I like the idea of taxing pollution not the people.
If there are going to be giving handouts they should go toward conservation, preservation, and cleaning up of the mess we have already made.
I trust the market to provide for the people what the people demand. We need the government to provide what cannot be sold: clean air, clean water, and clean land.
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Greg4444
1/17/2009 10:36 AM | While being the "greenest" country in the world is a noble sentiment, we need people to recommend specific policies instead of vague generalizations. Telling President-elect Obama to be "green" sounds nice but DOES NOT HELP his administration make tough choices about where to spend money, time, and resources. |
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infowars.com
1/17/2009 10:40 AM | seek the truth infowars.com |
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Ishael
1/17/2009 10:49 AM | Lex Talionis...the trolls have attacked my proposal out of mindless hatred and jealousy, so now Ill just return the insult in kind.
Mr. Barack Obama
My name is Jason Robert Canitz
I live at 4615 Mallow Rd
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
I request your pardon of my past misdeeds, so that I might live my life to the fullest, and be able to utilize all my hard-earned wisdom for my own benefit, and to the betterment of others. I am a student at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs where I am a sophomore.
I wish to write an autobiographical book so I can share my life experience with others without fear of retaliation over my past misdeeds. I am ashamed of my past, and long to absolve myself of it, so that I might become something more and greater.
My academic interests are neuro-psychology, neurobiology, quantum physics, machine-phase chemistry, and evolutionary computation.
My Ultimate goal is to enable myself and humanity in general, to separate consciousness from biological life.
Consciousness, sentient life should be preserved for as long as the being wishes to exist, sentient life should not have to grow old and die if it does not want to. Furthermore, sentient life should be enabled to inhabit whatever shell it wishes to, be that man, woman, android (male/female/other) or even exist as a being of pure energy inside of a neural net (which is, what we as people are in our brains, but it should be possible to replace biology which must whither and die, with technology which is far easier to maintain (that is, provided life extension treatments don't come about soon). Plus, technology has the capability to run much faster than biology (machine time vs. biological time), so that would drive human evolution and technological advancement along an exponential curve. The knee of the curve is called the singularity, that's when slow progress gives way to hyper fast progress. For an example, look at a graph of the function [y=e^x} and you will see what I am describing.
Please take me seriously, and give me the chance I need to ascend to greatness. I voted for you, and have applied for a position in your administration. If you get this message, you will be hearing more from me. You will soon have the power to make my dreams in life a reality. Take an interest in me, and I pledge I will do whatever I can for you, and for America, and for all sentient life everywhere!
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Mthree
1/17/2009 10:56 AM | Lead by example. This means you don't need to be #1, but truly aspire to the top spot: that unmitigated zeal may drive the wrong actions for the right reasons. Rather than say, look at us, we know what's best, make the small changes that will demonstrate to the world that we are capable of making the right decisions for the right reasons.
Also know that this decision also impacts so many other suggestions made on this site, from protecting old growth forests (which could be executed to a fault in either direction) to clean water and renewable energy. Play through the scenarios, understand possible outcomes and then make a decision. Don't be afraid to course correct as needed. And get politicians to vote on behalf of their constituents -- the people -- and not lobbiests and corporate campaign contributors.. |
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Rural Urban Conservationist
1/17/2009 10:58 AM | If you believe in an environmentally and economically Sustainable America post the word below to the comment section for all great posts that promote important aspects for a Green America.
GREENAMERICA
It is important for it to be one word so all of us can search for these posts. Please don’t make it every “green” post, but only those you feel are the best. That way those who find them searching thru the thousands of ideas, can alert all of us to the best so we can vote them up.
Lets turn America green starting with the Citizen’s Briefing Book.
The more good ideas that get 2000-5000 points the more likely they will be noticed. |
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Mellie
1/17/2009 11:35 AM | Thank you for reiterating everything that President-elect Obama has been saying all along. This is not a new idea it is his ideas. But it is nice to know that everyone agrees with him and so it will be easier for him to implement the policies he has been saying he hopes will come with change. This is what his change is all about. |
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KMaCK
1/17/2009 11:54 AM |
Put women and men to work building and retrofit 21st Century learning environments (schools that double as community centers) with the mandatory provision of putting solar panels and solar water heating systems on the roof of every school building in America.
Considering the desperate and extremely dire state of the majority of our inner most of inner city schools and frankly many of our most rural schools, retrofitting and renovation, if not outright rebuilding of these schools has to be a huge priority. The squalid, unsafe and inappropriate condition of so many of our schools cries out for attention.
In light of two other major needs, our very school buildings might be an excellent place to bring three issues facing Our Nation together. The energy crisis is one, and the other is jobs creation. Construction of new schools that can actually reflect and accommodate at the very least, the late 20th Century, if not the 21st Century is so obvious to be almost laughable. Renovation may be an option in some cases, provided doing so is both cost effective, and compliant with our knowledge of safety and accessibility. These construction needs will require putting women and men to work.
To address our energy needs and also reduce costs to schools systems, requiring solar panels to either convert into electricity and/or to heat water, not only can bring down the cost of energy to that building, it also becomes a living example to our kids, especially our inner city children, that all this talk about the environment, conservation, and job opportunities in the new energy fields is really real, and not just something for elite suburban kids at Disneyland.
In fact, maximize ways that students, and perhaps their parents and families, can be directly employed in some manner in this retrofitting and energy supplementation process. |
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LooneyLimey
1/17/2009 2:38 PM | My idea is to combine units, for example Solar Panels/Geothermal Heating and rain water collection into one unit. Have the Feds subsidize it at 100% & 0% interest for LOW INCOME
homeowners, have a sliding scale of subsidy from there, say 80% of cost at 1% interest for a $50K household income.
Make it affordable right away to as many homeowners.
The kicker is that the extra energy get credited to the homeowner at 30% for five years and 70% to the Feds for five years. The feds can use it and share it with the state as well, that gives free energy to the schools and more.
Extend this to Multiple Residential units and the people who rent will save on energy costs and water conservation too.
This can really be viewed as an investment by the people to the people. There are winners at all levels, homeowners, contractors, manufacturers, local and state governments as well as the Federal Government. Which benefits the people. WIN. WIN. WIN. |
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SmallDebs
1/17/2009 3:39 PM |
A Cheap Way to Help Small Businesses That Create Jobs
Similar to how President-Elect Obama visited Cardinal Fastener in Bedford Hts, Ohio, how about EACH WEEK, this website or the Departments of Energy, Commerce or Labor, or the President himself, highlight a U.S. company that creates AMERICAN-made products and ALTERNATIVE ENERGY products or companies that are using ALTERNATIVE ENERGY in their manufacturing process.
One example - Andrew Lessman, founder of ProCaps Labs in Henderson, Nevada manufactures his vitamins using solar energy created from solar panels on top of his plant. He also installed solar panels on car ports in the parking lot. Not only do these "solar car ports" protect employee vehicles from the hot Nevada sun, but they also provide the energy to create the product.
What a great way for business owners to learn from others. And it's a great way to reward the American entrepreneur with free advertising. For those of us who would like to buy American products or energy-efficient products, it highlights fledgling and established companies who want to do the right thing and make products here in the USA.
Unlike Lou Dobbs, who likes to bash the companies going overseas, why not spotlight those that stay?
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SmallDebs
1/17/2009 3:40 PM |
Delay the Tax Cut...
in all honesty, i would rather for-go my tax cut right now and instead invest that money into American industry that will STAY in America; somthing that will ultimately sustain itself by providing permanent jobs and tax revenues.
it makes no sense to give us a tax break so we can go out and buy products made in China, Korea, Mexico, India, etc. please use my tax break to invest in a 10-year energy independance program similar to what Brazil did to develop that country's ethanol industry, which is now paying for itself.
then, when the government coffers are running over, I'll take that tax break!
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