In February of 2009, President Obama challenged the country saying, “To truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.” Massachusetts has been a leader in this area. In the summer of 2008, the Massachusetts legislature passed An Act Relative to Green Communities that at the time was heralded as one of the most comprehensive and innovative clean energy bills in the country. I remember reading about it and feeling a sense of pride toward my state for taking a leadership role in this field.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, this environmental fairytale ends here. I am an out-of-state college student, but as a political science major I make it a point to keep up with my home state’s news. After a substantial amount of research, I have been unable to track the progress of the implementation of this bill, which is surprising considering all of the hype surrounding it when the bill first passed. Have the guidelines been met? Are they as effective as predicted? Have they even been implemented at all? The lack of answers is a great shame because the bill has a lot to offer, especially for the pockets of Massachusetts residents.

I do my part to recycle, I do not litter, and I shut the light off when I leave a room, but I will be honest, I would not consider myself to be an environmental fanatic. So why do I care? And why should anyone reading this care? Well, aside from wanting Massachusetts to be the most inventive state in the country, there is a much more practical reason that we all should care: money. Yes, I’m talking about the other valuable green resource at our disposal. While the Massachusetts clean energy bill is designed to save the green in our environment, a significant side benefit of its implementation would be the green saved in our pockets.

A shift to using renewable resources would bring more affordable and efficient energy to Massachusetts’ homes. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “The typical U.S. family spends about $1,900 a year on home utility bills.” We all have other important uses for that money. One of the most interesting provisions of the Massachusetts clean energy bill is one that would allow residents who own a method of creating renewable energy, such as solar panels and wind turbines, to “sell back” their excess energy generated into the grid. This would not only help recycle energy, but it would also save people a lot of money and provide an incentive for them to invest in these generators of renewable energy. Sounds like a good deal to me.

The problem is twofold: It appears that the state is not taking advantage of a bill that would be a great help to solving the current energy crisis. In the meantime we are losing the money that could be saved by all of these provisions. The people of Massachusetts must promote their energy bill, promote what is being done to implement the bill, promote conserving energy, promote cleaning our air, and above all, promote saving money. And while we are at it, let’s see what more we can do, for the sake of our environment, for the sake of our lungs, for the sake of our state, and for the sake of our wallets. Perhaps we will find that in this case money really can grow from trees.