What the Government Should Do With Our Money

As we circle around the notion of complete financial collapse here in the USA - it seems that a good strong dose of innovation that we Americans are so famous for is in order -

I have one idea that seems to be worthy of running up the flag pole -

One of the greatest areas of concern in our country is and should be the concept of migrating away from our dependence on carbon based fuel (Coal, Oil) as a means of producing energy for consumption by the masses.

This will not be achieved in a few short years or even decades - however starting towards that goal NOW should be a rallying point which we all can agree to pursue - prizes could be given out for the most innovative ideas - tax breaks and other means of incentivizing the general public to pursue the concept aggressively could be easy to put into place (a stimulus plan that really has a benefit for all) - it would make great nightly "positive" news - "who wants to be a millionaire" shows could actually contribute something to the whole - good ideas.

So here goes - "Energy parks" for ALL new commercial and residential developments - the concept is not totally new - current developments have green space and water runoff/reclamation ponds; this would be an enhancement on that idea that would help alleviate the new developments need to consume more energy and resources. The "energy Parks" would be a, "set -aside", of land area in the new development that would be used to harvest energy for the new development - how much set-aside and the method used to harvest energy would depend on the geographic area of the country and the size of the project being built.

An example would be a new housing development in the central valley of California - HUGE amounts of potential sun power available to harvest - and maybe some wind power as well - so we take the number of proposed homes being built and their projected annual energy consumption - then set-aside enough land area to "set up" the necessary solar and wind collectors to harvest a supply of - x - amount of the total energy needed for the development. The X in the equation could be the % at or below 100% needed and the tax breaks would run to the individual home owners - unless the cities funded the project as a part of a national energy conservation act - Using a bundled Tax incentive under a government incentive, Innovation Tax Pool, Granted to states for Job Creation.

Pretty simple in concept - difficult or impossible without a financial incentive or Stimulus from the government - better than bucks for clunkers or appliances - energy harvesting would be a long term benefit to all

Author - Todd Thompson
7-14-2011

Todd is the owner of Physician Services Group, LLC PhysicianCVs, "Physician Speak!" and The Physician Speak Insider
He writes blogs and articles about all things Physician and can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other Ezine sources - he also writes personal interest articles from time to time