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I was just reading all the things Barbara Boxer wants to do to save and create jobs. It reminded me of one of the things that Thomas Friedman recommends for the same purpose--effectively making mandatory PG&E's approach for all US utilities, including uniform requirements to place a premium on conservation and alternative energy feed-in (like requiring that a utility accept solar power energy from your home). Our friend Ron Hamilton works for a company that contracts with PG&E to insulate and in other ways save energy for homes and businesses, and PG&E pays them to do that because they are in turn paid or allowed to retain profits by the Public Utility Commission here for conservation efforts. His explanation of how utilities currently work in most cases shows why Californians energy use is so much more efficient than that of any other state. I just assumed every utility company was like PG&E, but evidently not. This is why Obama and others are saying that they can create green jobs and at the same time promote conservation and green energy. Unfortunately, that particular strategy won't have a big impact on California because we're pretty far ahead of most other places.