“As the current financial crisis unfolds, governments around the world are seeking to protect their citizens and their economies. According to a report issued by the McKinsey Global Institute Oct. 30, "Fueling Sustainable Development: The Energy Productivity Solution," our situation could lead both governments and corporations to invest more in saving energy.

We should not sit back and watch while others take the initiative. Kentucky needs an economic stimulus plan of its own, one that will not just help us get through these hard times, but will also help establish the basis for a new and brighter future.

Can we afford to think about the future now? Yes, we can and we must. Before you say, "We can't afford it," hold on. The current situation is certainly complicated. However, some things are clear.

One clear fact is that many of us are still very wasteful in our use of energy. Putting compact fluorescent bulbs in your most frequently used lighting fixtures will save energy and pay for itself within a matter of months. But turning off lights you are not using, turning down the heat when you leave home, and driving less will save you money today. Companies and governments can do similar things. It's time to look again at our habits. In many cases, we need to think about them for the first time.

But housing insulation, solar hot water heaters and many other things that could help save money and avoid the large increases in electric and gas rates do cost money.

Peter Meyer of the University of Louisville Center for Environmental Policy and Management, shows in his study, "Protecting Kentuckians' Economic Well-Being in the Face of Energy Cost Increases," that the state must play a key roll in helping citizens and companies protect themselves against the rising cost of coal-based electricity and other fossil fuels.

It is true that many Kentuckians cannot afford to pay to have their houses or mobile homes adequately insulated. It is true that many renters are not in a position to insulate their rooms beyond putting plastic sheeting over the windows. All of this was true three months ago, long before the current financial crisis began, and without action it will be true after the current crisis has passed.

If there were a way to help people get the insulation, the solar water heaters, thermal heat pumps and compact fluorescent bulbs they need to help themselves save money, if there were a way to do this now and create new jobs even in the midst of our economic difficulties, it would help countless individuals and families and boost the economy. We would also be starting to deal with the real and on-going threat of global warming (or "global weirding," as Thomas Friedman calls it in his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded).

According to Meyer, we can do this. Here's the key: Good energy efficiency projects pay for themselves (and more) in energy savings. As Meyer says:

"Such a program could easily be financed by state bonds, with the debt service from the very first year financed 100 percent from the savings in energy costs. The faster the energy costs rose, the greater the payoff to Kentuckians as homeowners and taxpayers over time."

It is logical for the state to finance energy efficiency programs in this manner, and Meyer shows in detail how state government could have a real impact in saving its citizens and companies' money while helping to create jobs. He shows as well how the legislature could tweak House Bill 2, passed last spring, to make the funds allocated there go much farther.

But help does not have to all come from Frankfort. Some electric and gas companies have programs that pay for the cost of getting a customer's house adequately insulated, or for the cost of purchasing and installing a solar water heater, and get back their cost plus a profit by splitting the energy savings created over time with their customer. That way, everyone wins. And so does the environment, because energy efficiency means less coal burned and, therefore, lower levels of greenhouse gases emitted.

Now is the time to be as smart as we can be about dealing with the problems of our present in ways that also increase the stability and attractiveness of our future.”