The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is the jumpstart to President Obama’s historical and environmental legacy. With broad strokes, he is painting the American landscape with invigorating and much-needed stimulus spending. The most encouraging spending is taking place in the energy sector.
For years, the United States has staggered in our research and implementation of energy efficient buildings. With the new stimulus package we can expect to see a growth in energy conservation for government and private structures.
Most notable among the spending assignments are $6.3 billion for state and local governments to use toward energy effectiveness and $4.5 billion for state and local governments to increase energy efficiency in federal buildings. With these steps toward energy efficiency in government buildings all of our tax dollars will work more resourcefully toward a brighter and less wasteful tomorrow.
To help private citizens grow more green, the stimulus bill offers billions for use in energy efficient homes. Americans can count on $5 billion for weatherizing middle-income homes, $300 million to buy energy efficient appliances and $250 million to boost energy efficiency in low-income housing. These dollars will allow thousands of families to take part in improving our nation’s energy efficiency and reducing our carbon footprint on the world.
One other aspect in the exciting stimulus spending is the emphasis on vehicle development and implementation. The federal bill sets aside $2 billion for the manufacturing of a superior automobile battery system and $400 million for the development of electric vehicle advances. To encourage electric vehicle usage, the stimulus package offers $300 million to build federal electric vehicle fleets, including plug-in hybrid vehicles. State and local entities can count on $300 million to purchase energy efficient vehicles for government usage.
This package promises to boost America’s ability to spend government money more efficiently and develop products that will keep us running on less fuel. That’s good green news for everyone.