Although some have worried energy-efficiency initiatives will get cut as the current economic crisis continues unabated, the comprehensive stimulus package Congress and President-elect Barack Obama say they plan to pass soon after Inauguration Day could serve as a venue for large-scale clean-energy investments.

Experts told federal policymakers Wednesday green jobs and clean-energy technology can revitalize the economy while enhancing energy security and cutting carbon emissions. Spending money now on green technology could reap big benefits later, said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which held a hearing Wednesday on the topic.

"Clearly, there are a number of important energy measures that can be implemented quickly and will provide green jobs, result in significant energy savings and enhance the infrastructure needed to move to a clean-energy economy," Bingaman said. "They should be a central part of any stimulus package."

A "central part" could mean a significant amount of money, if witnesses testifying before the committee get their way. Recommendations for total energy spending ranged from $75 billion to $150 billion.

Since the stimulus bill is expected to total several hundreds of billions of dollars, it's important the money goes toward something that not only jump-starts the economy but also addresses other long-term problems the country is facing, including addiction to foreign oil and climate change, said Joe Loper, vice president of policy and research at the Alliance to Save Energy, a coalition of private companies pushing energy efficiency.

"We should make sure the stimulus money has long-term benefits … so we can pass something besides debt on to our children," Loper told senators Wednesday.

Not only do investments in clean technology provide energy security and environmental benefits, but the boost for the economy will be greater than comparable investments in conventional energy, said Bracken Hendricks, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a left-leaning think tank.

"Spending $100 billion within the domestic oil industry, for example, would create only about 542,000 jobs in the United States," Hendricks said. "A green infrastructure investment program would create 2 million jobs, or nearly four times more jobs."

With U.S. job losses reaching a record high of 530,000 in November alone, that's a significant number. However, not everyone's convinced green jobs are the answer, including Kenneth P. Green, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

"To stimulate jobs in one area, the government basically has to terminate them in another area, and much of the 'stimulus' is consumed by the bureaucracy that distributes it," Green told United Press International. "So government job creation leaves you with less jobs on net, steers capital to inefficient uses, and sometimes leaves one with stranded, non-economic goods to maintain and/or decommission."

As a result, before Congress starts throwing money at anything with a green veneer, policymakers should take precautions to make sure the programs they finance will have long-lasting benefits and can be supported by private industry, said Kevin Book, senior vice president at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., which provides investment banking services.

"These clean-energy investments must ultimately prove economically viable relative to competing sources," Book said. "Technologies that cannot survive on a long-term basis without ongoing government support can lead to inefficient energy use and investment decisions."

There's debate as to whether the best projects for the economy are short-term, quick start-up operations or long-term, lasting ones. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., suggested that approval of the 30-plus nuclear power plant applications currently pending could have huge benefits for the economy.

"If you want new jobs, get three or four of these (approved)," said Domenici, who is retiring at the end of this Congress. "If you get them going, you would send such a signal about what's going up in the future."

But big projects like nuclear plants or massive wind farms don't provide the immediate jobs the economy desperately needs, said Ken Brown, executive director of Climate Communities, a national coalition of cities and counties pushing federal climate policy. Federal policymakers instead should look at the thousands of clean-energy initiatives that local governments already have planned but don't have the funds to implement.

"It would be extremely shortsighted to invest the money in massive long-term projects that will take a long time to get up and running, when these local plans are already ready to go," Brown told UPI. Local projects "quickly create jobs to revitalize the economy, reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy and begin to put us on the path towards emissions reductions."

Small-scale projects at the local level could include retrofitting commercial buildings and homes for energy efficiency and improving public transit systems.

Focusing on small projects will also put the money where it's needed most -- the pockets of everyday people, said Charles Ebinger, director of the energy security initiative at the Brookings Institution, a public policy organization.

"We've been giving $300 billion to banks that are sitting on it and not moving it back into the economy," Ebinger told UPI. "We need a paradigm shift. If you do these (small, local) projects, you'll take care of a lot more of the people who really need it instead of banks on Wall Street."

While small, local projects provide a number of benefits, there's one large-scale project most experts agree is a most: updating the nation's antiquated electricity grid.

Without a new grid, investments in renewable energy generation or electric cars will be useless, said Steve Hauser, vice president of GridPoint, a clean-technology company.

"We have often underemphasized the critical need for a smart grid," Hauser told senators Wednesday. "It is the backbone of our clean-energy future."

A new, smart grid could increase the usage of clean-energy technology by providing a way to get electricity produced by renewable sources -- often in remote locations, such as solar farms in the desert -- to consumers. Implementing plug-in, hybrid electric vehicles also depends on having a grid that can handle the new cars.

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