What a New Energy Economy Might Look Like

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•Tax credits for companies that produce wind and solar energy and energy conservation products like fiberglass insulation. According to Hendricks, there are companies ready to build wind farms in the Midwest and solar farms in the Southwest if they can be guaranteed that there will be a market for their products even if oil prices drop.

• Construction of a new "smart" electric grid to deliver the power generated by wind, solar and geothermal plants in rural areas to the major population centers. This would be a down payment on the $400 billion over 10 years that Al Gore has estimated the new grid will ultimately cost — although, Gore says, the savings in energy efficiency could pay for the grid in three years. The new smart technology would figure out the cheapest and most efficient times to run everything from major heating and cooling systems in public buildings to your clothes dryer.

• Increased investment in mass transit. Hendricks says there are $20 billion to $30 billion in local-rail and alternative-energy bus projects that have already been approved by Congress but not yet funded by the Federal Government.

It is difficult to make public poetry out of wires and fiberglass insulation. "We will send a man to the moon" is a far more romantic proposition than "We will have a gadget in your basement that will help you use electricity more efficiently." But if there is creativity lurking amid the destruction of the economic crisis, it exists at the intersection of national security, economic stimulus and climate change — the gust of innovation and economic growth that will come from breaking our dependence on fossil fuels. Along with finding the right people to staff his Administration, Barack Obama's most important job now is to find the right words to inspire the nation to undertake this next great cause.

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