Will Obama's Economic Recovery Be Green?

Part of Barack Obama's presidential campaign included many ideas (and also lots of questions) about how his administration might tie an economic recovery to a "green" recovery. The New York Times today has a glimpse into the Obama team's developing plan, which indeed appears to be heading in the direction of tying job creation and economic recovery to environmental and infrastructure programs. From the Times:

The details and cost of the so-called green-jobs program are still unclear, but a senior Obama aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a work in progress, said it would probably include the weatherizing of hundreds of thousands of homes, the installation of “smart meters” to monitor and reduce home energy use, and billions of dollars in grants to state and local governments for mass transit and infrastructure projects.

Congressional leaders and the president-elect's team are looking at rolling out the new economic stimulus plan in January, after the inauguration and when Congress is back in session. The plan could cost hundreds of billions of dollars, give tax breaks and government aid to clean energy projects, and also create millions of jobs in coming years. Of course, the plan has many skeptics. We'll be watching the story closely over the coming weeks.