Obama Economic Stimulus Plan to Include Focus on Green Jobs

President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus proposal will include provisions that support green jobs. While the complete plan hasn't been announced, recent reports have begun to provide insights into the plan's scope and contents. According to a December 3, 2008 article in The New York Times, Proposal Ties Economic Stimulus to Energy Plan:

President-elect Barack Obama and leaders in Congress are fashioning a plan to pour billions of dollars into a jobs program to jolt the economy and lay the groundwork for a more energy-efficient one.

The details and cost of the so-called green-jobs program are still unclear, but a senior Obama aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a work in progress, said it would probably include the weatherizing of hundreds of thousands of homes, the installation of “smart meters” to monitor and reduce home energy use, and billions of dollars in grants to state and local governments for mass transit and infrastructure projects.

The green component of the much larger stimulus plan would cost at least $15 billion a year, and perhaps considerably more, depending on how the projects were defined, aides working on the package said.

This was followed by a December 6th article in The New York Times, Obama Pledges Public Works on a Vast Scale:

With jobs evaporating and the recession deepening, Mr. Obama began highlighting elements of the economic recovery program he is trying to fashion with Congressional leaders in hopes of being able to enact it shortly after being sworn in on Jan. 20.

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Although Mr. Obama put no price tag on his plan, he said he would invest record amounts of money in the vast infrastructure program, which also includes work on schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electrical grids, dams and other public utilities. The green jobs would include various categories, including jobs dedicated to creating alternative fuels, windmills and solar panels; building energy efficient appliances, or installing fuel-efficient heating or cooling systems.

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The green jobs portion of the economic package could run as high as $100 billion over two years, according to an aide familiar with the discussions. more information:

President-elect Obama has also discussed including green jobs in his economic recovery proposal his weekly address of November 22nd and December 6th.  In his December 6th address, President-elect Obama indicated that part of his plan will include a "massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient":

Additional insights into the proposed plan can be obtained from the following web pages and documents:

• Agenda: Economy (The Office of the President-Elect)
• Agenda: Energy & Environment (The Office of the President-Elect)
• Agenda: Technology (The Office of the President-Elect)
• Barack Obama and Joe Biden: New Energy for America (PDF)
• Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Economy (BarackObama.com)
• Barack Obama and Joe Biden: New Energy for America (BarackObama.com)
• Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Technology (BarackObama.com)
• Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy (Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, September 2008).