December 9, 2008--Greening the White House
Barack Obama is meeting today with Al Gore. Undoubtedly to talk about who he is thinking about appointing to the Green Team for his administration—the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (who I suspect Obama will elevate to cabinet rank), his Energy Secretary, and his Transportation Secretary. This is a very big deal for a president who sees tackling environmental issues to not only be essential to a cleaner, cooler environment but also as an engine, a non-polluting one to be sure, to drive the new economy and along the way create millions of jobs.
There is speculation that Obama may ask Gore to serve somehow in his administration. Perhaps as some sort of Energy Czar. But with an Auto Czar looming to ride herd on the car industry after it receives its bailout, there may be one too many czars already to make someone who believes in democracy comfortable. (We all know what happened to the big Czars in Russia.)
While contemplating just what the Obama administration might do to change our energy and environmental behavior there is one thing he can do beginning January 20th—green the White House.
I wonder if the WH has energy-efficient windows. Are there any drafts that could be eliminated with better insulation? What kinds of light bulbs are in use? Can he order up a hybrid presidential car? Does everyone in his administration have to fly around in government jets?
I suspect much could be done to reduce the White House carbon footprint. It’s one thing to legislate and spend taxpayer money to incubate new approaches and new industries—I’m for that if done wisely—it’s another thing to lead by example.
Analogically, when Betty Ford went public about having breast cancer hundreds of thousands of women who had never had mammograms asked their doctors to prescribe them and without doubt many lives were saved. When Katie Couric’s husband died of colon cancer the very fact that Kati had one live on the Today show I am sure motivated thousands to follow her example.
What would it mean if Barack Obama and his family themselves very actively sought ways to make the White House greener and invited the media to follow in their footsteps as they went about cutting down on drafts, seeing if there is the possibility of having solar panels installed on the roof, turning down the thermostat, changing light bulbs, replacing conventional light switches with motion-sensing ones, adding dimmer switches, using LED holiday lights, and adding hybrids to their fleet of vehicles?
As a way of quantifying the effects of the changes at the White House, Obama could compare and share the electric bills for each month after he takes office with those for 2008, the last year of the Bush administration. This would serve as a sort of scorecard for how well he and Michelle and the girls are doing at reducing their energy use.
Obviously, none of these relatively small steps would in themselves get the larger job done, but the ripple effect could be enormous.
There is speculation that Obama may ask Gore to serve somehow in his administration. Perhaps as some sort of Energy Czar. But with an Auto Czar looming to ride herd on the car industry after it receives its bailout, there may be one too many czars already to make someone who believes in democracy comfortable. (We all know what happened to the big Czars in Russia.)
While contemplating just what the Obama administration might do to change our energy and environmental behavior there is one thing he can do beginning January 20th—green the White House.
I wonder if the WH has energy-efficient windows. Are there any drafts that could be eliminated with better insulation? What kinds of light bulbs are in use? Can he order up a hybrid presidential car? Does everyone in his administration have to fly around in government jets?
I suspect much could be done to reduce the White House carbon footprint. It’s one thing to legislate and spend taxpayer money to incubate new approaches and new industries—I’m for that if done wisely—it’s another thing to lead by example.
Analogically, when Betty Ford went public about having breast cancer hundreds of thousands of women who had never had mammograms asked their doctors to prescribe them and without doubt many lives were saved. When Katie Couric’s husband died of colon cancer the very fact that Kati had one live on the Today show I am sure motivated thousands to follow her example.
What would it mean if Barack Obama and his family themselves very actively sought ways to make the White House greener and invited the media to follow in their footsteps as they went about cutting down on drafts, seeing if there is the possibility of having solar panels installed on the roof, turning down the thermostat, changing light bulbs, replacing conventional light switches with motion-sensing ones, adding dimmer switches, using LED holiday lights, and adding hybrids to their fleet of vehicles?
As a way of quantifying the effects of the changes at the White House, Obama could compare and share the electric bills for each month after he takes office with those for 2008, the last year of the Bush administration. This would serve as a sort of scorecard for how well he and Michelle and the girls are doing at reducing their energy use.
Obviously, none of these relatively small steps would in themselves get the larger job done, but the ripple effect could be enormous.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
7:03 AM
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