Barack Obama's "NEW DEAL"

With nationwide unemployment at 7.2 percent and in the midst of far-reaching economic crises, according to some, Barack Obama's economic stimulus package -- which passed through the U.S. House of Representatives last week -- is reminiscent of FDR's New Deal.

At least, this is the point of view argued by Eric Peterson in ColoradoBIZ magazine.

An interesting analogy is drawn within the article between the major public works project of the New Deal and what looks to be Obama's major public works project of his stimulus package. FDR invested $1 billion in expanding the U.S. interstate highway system. Today, with that infrastructure already in place, Obama looks to focus on a massive energy efficiency program. . . . Just as the interstate highway program required a massive investment of manpower, an expansive effort to overhaul the existing energy structure would require a similar commitment.

Also anticipated in the package is a focus on the renewable energy industry. Accordingly, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. might see an increase in funding and be charged with the task of bringing some floundering renewable energy technologies to maturity -- such as solar PV.

Recent studies have suggested that increases in energy efficiency combined with bringing renewable energy technologies to their full potential still cannot match current energy demand in the U.S. -- and demand is only growing. The apparent solution to this problem is to increase the effectiveness of existing renewable energy technologies. Wind, according to most, is a mature technology, and is only capable of gobbling-up about 20 percent of our current electrical needs; this doesn't even take into account the mobile fuel source energy the U.S. consumes.

To me, the best option to make solar PV realistic -- it's current costs are a full order of magnitude higher than any other realistic energy alternatives -- is to increase the efficiency of thin films and lower production costs. NREL is working on these problems. . . . There may be room for improvement with PV. And considering the knowledge that everything else combined will still fall short -- assuming we don't suddenly ramp up nuclear -- increasing R&D efforts in this area could prove to be a very valuable investment for the Obama administration.