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Green Resources > Green Industry Articles > President Obama Signs Stimulus Bill

President Obama Signs Stimulus Bill

By Amanda Goucher, Coordinator, NAR’s Green Designation

President Barack Obama has signed the much-anticipated plan he calls “urgent and essential to our recovery.” Negotiations in the House and Senate on the new stimulus plan have been reached, and the changes in our economy can begin to take shape. The original financial total for the plan boasted $838 billion, which was slashed to $819 billion after reviewed by the Senate on February 10. After further compromise, the cost of the current bill has been reduced to about $790 billion. This bill still contains about $50 billion for energy topics. The most recent draft of the bill, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, “creates more jobs than the original Senate bill and spends less than the original house bill.”

Many of the anticipated jobs are green-collar jobs—those that focus on renewable energy like wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower.

With this multi-billion dollar stimulus plan, an increase in renewable energy in our economy is a sure result. Some of the $50 billion allotted for green energy will be used as follows:

• $5 billion for the weatherization of residential homes
• $6.4 billion for cleaning up hazardous nuclear sites
• $11 billion for Obama’s plan for a "smart electricity grid"
• $6 billion for subsidized loans for green projects
• $6.3 billion in state-level grants for energy efficiency
• $4.5 billion toward green retrofitting of federal buildings
• $2 billion in grants for batteries compatible with electric vehicles.

All this and more can help our nation become more aware of the necessity behind becoming more energy efficient. President Obama’s focus on energy technology sets ambitious goals for the United States over the coming decades. During his campaign, Obama outlined a number of energy-focused goals that are now finding their way into various drafts of bills on Capitol Hill.

A Renewable Electricity Standard proposal, for instance, includes Obama’s provision to increase the amount of energy coming from renewable sources to 20 percent by 2039. This, coupled with the administration’s commitment to investing money each year in renewable energy sources, will surely lead our nation to a more solid economic future. “The country that figures out how to make cheaper energy that’s also clean, that country is going to win the economic competition of the future. And I want that to be the United States of America,” said President Obama at a town hall meeting on February 9.

Although controversial among the Senate Republicans, President Obama ensures that this bill “has the right priorities to create jobs that will jump-start our economy and transform this economy for the 21st century.”

These ambitious goals will set the stage for a shift in how the Americans view energy, and perhaps more importantly, the United States’ future energy policies.

Amanda Goucher is Coordinator of NAR’s Green Designation, which provides real estate professionals with knowledge and awareness of green building principles applied in residences, commercial properties, developments, and communities so that they can help consumers in purchasing, retrofitting, and operating green properties. The course encourages the real estate professional to be an advocate for green principles in the design and use of homes and commercial buildings and a positive force for creating sustainable communities. For more information, please visit www.GreenREsourceCouncil.org.