As we throw billions of dollars of public money at energy and finance problems with our fingers crossed, law-makers should think about incentivizing at least some of the solution-seekers. The X-prize has proven that cash rewards are a huge motivator for inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and financiers to attempt to solve seemingly impossible problems.

American energy use has increased 200% since 1990, and 40% of that energy consumption occurs in the the home. Statistics like these have mobilized a coalition of public and private institutions to offer prizes to those intrepid souls who can build the next generation of “energy-free” buildings.

The Energy-Free Home Challenge defines an “energy-free home” as a modern building that produces as much energy as it consumes. It must be scalable and within the cost of an average consumer. The prize purse that will go to the team that can make this dream a reality is $20,000,000.

Interesting note in the category of “that’s how the world works”: I tried to Google the “Energy Free Home Challenge” and the top result was their lobbying statistics on Open Secrets ($65,000 in 2008).

As the debate on the stimulus package continues, it will be interesting to see whether infrastructure will be a key component. Seen as an important element to growing the economy, construction and civil engineering projects take a lot of time to plan and execute effectively. That being said, there are a ton of projects here in California that are just waiting for a green light and already speculation is flying about which far-off projects here in the Yay might be accelerated. Hopefully the 580 connection repair will be be a model for future projects. It was speedy and came in under-budget, which means there was little to no graft or corruption involved.

The energy independence lobby and environmental groups are hoping for some real alternative energy stimulus in the bill. With layoff news dropping each day, green retrofits of homes would mean jobs for displaced workers. Interest is high in green energy educational programs like the solar installation training classes at San Jose City College and the time is ripe for government to make some permanent incentives for businesses to install alternative energy. Despite the downturn, there are still a grip of green jobs available in various disciplines.

Check out http://www.solarjobs.us/ and http://www.windjobs.org/ to see the latest jobs available in the green energy space.