Today, I joined an online conversation that is one example of a roaring national debate.

Is our Federal government interfering in the economy as some profess?

Or are government policies and spending actually stimulating American innovation?

The conversation taking place in a networking group dedicated to electrical, lighting and energy efficiency industry pros was centered on two central issues related to U.S. electrical energy efficiency – and the economic health of the electrical construction industry.

Issue number one: The current financial crisis is hampering the retrofitting of much of America’s commercial buildings because many building owners are hesitant to invest in this recessionary environment, and Issue number two: The value of federal government market intervention to stimulate and support the adoption of energy-efficient solutions – specifically the ARRA funding. 

One fellow, a marketing man for a manufacturer of energy-efficient T5 retrofit lighting systems, had posted a blog by Shay Walsh that promotes the company’s products. Walsh’s blog was an interesting article that reported on research findings published by Pike Research regarding the current U.S. market for energy-efficient buildings.

The Pike Research report claimed that the current level of investment by cash-strapped building owners to make their existing buildings more energy-efficient has failed to keep pace with the growing demand for electrical power.

The report stated, “The limited investment in building efficiency is not keeping pace with the growing national demand for energy” – a fact that our entire industry should be concerned about.

Things got interesting when another reader, an electrical sales enegineer, responded by slamming Uncle Sam’s value in helping. “Come on guys,” taunted the enegineer. “Do you know of anything that the government meddles in that actually works as it was supposed to? If you say you have, I have got some Ocean Front property in Arizona that you may want to look at. LOL.”

Well, I may not want to take this guy up on his Arizona beach deal, but I did want to share a few of my thoughts with him. In my estimation this line of thinking that the Feds are a bunch of screw ups that simply waste taxpayer money misses a key point.

As Walsh puts it in his blog, “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is paving the way for commercial property owners to follow the federal government’s lead in funding efforts to retrofit their own buildings.”

I agree with Walsh’s assertion that our government should be applauded for its “effort to lead by example that has caused major companies to catch on and invest in green updates for their properties.” 

Frankly, hearing the constant aspersions about Uncle Sam’s efforts to resurect our damaged economy has gotten harder and harder for me to take. Especially in the middle of a downturn that is an unmitigated disaster for the contruction industry -- and the manufacturers and distributors that supply it.

No. I am not saying that government should replace private sector investing in order to create jobs. However, government has a responsibility and a duty to protect the greater good of the nation. And without government intervention the current state of construction – and electrical sales – would undoubtably be far grimmer if it were not for the Fed’s attempts to prime our economic pump. A majority of this nation's best economic minds agree that without the strong (and expensive) federal government intervention we have seen in the last two years, it is likely that our economy would have spiralled even further down.

Fact remains that most states are seeing significant benefits from ARRA funding which was passed by Congress in Feb. '09 and is still funnelling funding into government construction, increased building energy efficiency, retrofitting upgrades, support for solar, wind and battery technologies, job retraining for displaced workers to gain green technology skills...and the list goes on!

For all the naysayers who bellow that government “meddling” is no help, I point to the article I'm writing for the October issues of the Electrical Distributor magazine.

I’m reporting on the newly minted Electric Vehicle (EV) industry. Early entrants, GE and Coulomb Technologies and Nissan are all marketing or soon launching EV charging stations for both consumers and commercial areas to support the coming wave of new chargeable EVs from GM, Nissan and other auto/truck manufacturers.

These companies are involved thanks to the U.S. DOE's funding support of $2.4B that guaranteed seeding EV charging stations in multiple markets. I look forward to interviewing the distributors who have decided to jump on this new market. I wonder if those EDs are annoyed that Uncle Sam ponnied up the seed funding to create what many project as a massive future market.

If the consumer finds chargeable vehicles attractive, this new emerging market will benefit contractors, distributors, and manufacturers here in the U.S. -- thanks to government meddling!

 Meanwhile an upstart industrial nation -- CHINA -- has plans to lead the world in EV production with that government meddling in their own economy to the tune of $14.7B to support China's domestic makers of alternative-fuel vehicles.

Wake up all you free marketers that howl at every Fed interjection in our economy! America will get left behind in the new world economy unless we have progressive federal government vision and leadership to invest in new technologies like EVs. Despite all the griping about government spending and our deficit I feel strongly that President Obama is steering the U.S. in a forward-thinking direction by investing in new technologies, energy-related R&D, and in making higher education and workforce training more available.

America, and our industry, will reap much of the reward for Obama's visionary agenda 5, 10 and 20 years from now. But making bold moves – like funding EV infrastructure -- could help America remain among the world's leading economies when my 14-year old daughter starts her career.

Next week I’ll report fully on the Pike Research report on the challenges we face to retrofit America’s commercial buildings to be greener. The report’s executive summary can be seen at http://www.pikeresearch.com/research/energy-efficiency-retrofits-for-commercial-and-public-buildings .