Daily Score Blog

If you didn't catch Van Jones's op-ed today in the Seattle Times, it's worth a read. As part of the Recovery Act, the Obama administration is investing $80 billion to support clean-energy solutions. The biggest US investment in clean energy—ever. And Jones points out that not only is this creating green-collar jobs in our communities right now, these aren't necessarily the jobs you might imagine.

When we think of clean energy projects and green-collar jobs, we often go straight to gleaming solar arrays and bright, tall wind turbines. But not all clean-energy solutions are flashy new technologies. In fact, many solutions that save energy, save money, and create jobs in our communities aren't flashy at all. Instead, they're tried and true efficiency work horses, often hidden from sight but mighty effective:

While the enthusiasm for tomorrow's technologies sometimes overlooks the practical solutions being deployed today, the recovery package is also making sure that humbler technologies—like caulking guns, insulation, high-performance boilers and windows—are also being deployed all across America. These hardworking solutions create jobs and save money for Americans every day.

The president's central insight is straightforward: By retrofitting and improving American homes and buildings to waste less energy, we can save Americans billions of dollars in energy costs. At the same time, we can create jobs and reduce the strain on our nation's power grid. Reducing the load on our coal-fired power plants would, in turn, cut air pollution—letting everyone breathe a little easier.

Offsets are the hot topic in the debate over the climate change and clean energy legislation being considered by the US Senate. Offsets -- the option to pay others to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or protect carbon-storing trees instead of making your own pollution cuts -- are being wielded as a powerful tool to sweeten the carbon-cap deal, particularly for the Midwest.

The American ag industry is pushing lawmakers to include language in the bill, known as Waxman-Markey or the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), that positions them to reap big  economic benefits from the offset market.

Already lawmakers shifted offset oversight from the EPA to the Department of Agriculture to appease farming interests. On Tuesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hosted an ag-centric hearing on the legislation (see Grist's Kate Sheppard on this).

So what's the skinny on US offets?