Energy efficiency leads Obama's economic plan

In this week's YouTube address, President-Elect Obama outlined specific points of his economic recovery plan. I suppose he could give a me another check for $200 and call it quits. But instead, it looks like he's going to use that money in the way that energy advisers have been praying someone would for ages: by increasing efficiency.

"We will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bills in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs."

I was worried that Obama would skip this remarkably unsexy and vital point of our energy future. Saving electricity is by far the best way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. And while wind, solar and other renewables are far more exciting, Obama's emphasis on efficiency is much more realistic.

Frankly, the fact that U.S. government buildings don't already use the most efficient option for lighting is ridiculous. And he's right, not only will this create jobs and save energy, but it will, in the long run, save the government (and by extension you and me) billions of dollars.

Of course, I expect Obama to continue pushing America to grow toward a cleaner future with subsidies and grants for clean energy technologies. But if he had started there, and skipped efficiency, I would have been extremely disappointed.