Al Gore’s 5-pt energy economy recovery plan for the new Obama administration was enlightening.

I believe that timing is everything. I also believe that there are millions of Americans that don’t take solar energy seriously. We all need to get on the same boat, collectively take the reins, and change our ways. Al Gore’s energy plan couldn’t have come at a better time.

With jobs flushing down the toilet or being outsourced at a phenomenal rate, it seems the planetary energies and stars are lining up: Gore’s got a plan for a healthier lifestyle and it will create millions of new jobs, too.

I hate spending $60 every time I gas up my car, don’t you? And, my electric bill is much, much higher than that. Gore’s idea to put people to work replacing 19th-century energy technologies that depend on dangerous and expensive carbon-based fuels with 21st-century technologies that use fuel that is free (sun & wind) sounds like a solid solution to many problems.

His plan to re-power America is an aggressive commitment to producing 100 percent of our electricity from carbon-free sources within 10 years. And, like the domino effect, it’s also a solution to the climate crisis and the economic crisis.

Gore’s ideas

Offer large incentives for the construction of solar thermal plants in the Southwestern deserts, wind farms in the corridor from Texas to the Dakotas, and plants in geothermal hot spots that could produce large amounts of electricity.

Build a unified national smart grid to transport the renewable electricity. Use high-voltage underground lines. Does this mean we’ll be able to see the sky without the clutter of electricity lines? There’s an added benefit right there; aesthetics.

Help America’s auto industry to convert over to plug-in hybrids that would run on renewable electricity.

Retrofit buildings with better insulation and energy-efficient windows and lighting to lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Put a price on carbon in America and develop a global treaty that caps carbon dioxide emissions and encourages nations to invest together in efficient ways to reduce global warming pollution, including sharply reducing deforestation.

Posted on December 2nd in Solar Politics by Beth.