Saving energy makes sence. We all know that. But we're conditioned to believe it costs too much money. It does cost money to change how we do things, but no always "too much." Not when you look past the initial cost outlay.
I live about a mile from a small town. My husband recently got a bicycle. We outfitted it with some baskets, and now he can run to the library, post office or grocery store (for up to 3 bags) on the bike in about the same time it would take by car. No gas expense. Sure, he comes home winded and sweaty but then, he doesn't need a gym membership. More money saved. Yes, the bike costs money, but I think we'll have recouped that expense in a year.
That's something we're doing on a personal level, and I recognize that it would not work for everyone. So how about a public effort:
I work in a large city--a forest of tall buildings with mostly flat roofs. If those roofs were each tiled in solar panels, they'd have free hot water and reduced electricity expenses. For some buildings, depending on location, a wind turbine on the roof might make sense. Yes, putting those improvements in would take an initial cash outlay, but I think it's a place where a tax break would be justified. This proposal would not have been efficient 10 years ago, but solar panels have gotten much cheaper, and become much longer lasting since then.
I look at it this way: If most new roofs were energy generators, then the government would not need to spend as many tax dollars on building and maintaining power plants. That money can go to the tax breaks. Less polution abatement expense. More for tax breaks. Meanwhile the businesses which own or lease office space will have lower overhead expenses for power, and those savings should slow the pace at which they raise their prices to us.
This proposal does not costs jobs--power stations would still be needed. Roofers would still be needed; they'd just be putting on different roofs, made by new workers in the expanding solar roofing industry.
So that's my idea. What do you think of it, and what ideas do you have to make our private and public moneys go farther and greener?