Tougher times as greener times?

U.S. NEWS: "Stimulus Push Gets Greener Tint," by Jonathan Weisman and Naftali Bendavid, Wall Street Journal, 6-7 December 2008.

U.S. NEWS: "Cities Give Waste-to-Energy Plants a Second Look: Higher U.S. Landfill Costs and Uncertain Oil Prices Drive an Expansion of Existing Trash Incinerators, Plans for New Ones," by Ilan Brat, Wall Street Journal, 6-7 December 2008.

U.S. NEWS: "Obama, Aides Consider Appointing Energy 'Czar,'" by Stephen Power and Neil King Jr., Wall Street Journal, 6-7 December 2008.

"Complex green infrastructure" is promised in the stimulus package, such as renewable energy plants, improving the electrical grid, smart meters, etc.

This mindset seems to match the desperation of local public officials to squeeze out savings through greener projects--like waste-to-energy plants.

As a kid, I was often tasked with burning the family dry garbage in a specially vented oil drum that stood on cinder blocks in the backyard. I always loved lighting the damn thing up. It was--by today's standards--an indescribably dangerous task for a kid, but I never got in trouble doing it, even as I tipped the drum a couple of times (both in winter due to high snow).

Actually, come to think of it, I used the drum during lunch hour one day when Paul Pierce threatened to snitch me out to the nuns over the extensive pornography collection in my treehouse (I was a legend among my friends for this treasure trove, held safe about forty feet above ground, in grocery bags).

That was a sad day.

Anyway, cool to see such projects get some new lease in tighter times. Penny pinching is good and can be greening in mature economies.

Does Obama appoint an energy czar to oversee it all? Despite the name, the Secretary of Energy really doesn't have that much purview. Most of his budget is nuclear weapons.

So yeah, maybe a good idea to pursue.