Stimulating Alternative Energy | OpenMarket.org

So it seems likely that the target of doubling the use of renewable energy does not actually refer to the full range of renewables at all, but just to those “acceptable” alternatives. This would imply that the target is only 1 extra quad of renewable energy by 2011, which, while it would represent a significant expansion of those industries, would amount to just a “drop in the bucket” of total US energy use. And, as we hear in the debate over ANWR every time it comes up, a “drop in the bucket” is just not worth doing…

It appears that this part of the stimulus package is, at most, a shibboleth.

Shivering at the Detroit Auto Show - Henry Payne - Planet Gore on National Review Online

Detroit, Mich. — Fittingly, a snowstorm brought half a foot of snow and temperatures sank into the teens in Detroit on Saturday night, on the eve of the North American International Auto Show’s press preview days. The NAIAS is America’s premier auto show and has been anticipated this year by politicians, their media parrots, and some manufacturers as the industry’s opportunity to introduce the vehicles that will save us from global warming.

I hope they brought their long underwear.
...
Eco-cars have always headlined press preview week (the hall is open to the public next week), sharing the stage with other vehicle segments that actually make money. But this year is different. Green is all there is.

The NAIAS kicks off the new year’s major industrial trade shows and is a preview of industrial policy to come: A world in which automakers are bailed out by government, and in which they are, in turn, expected to produce products the government — and not the consumer — wants.