9-17. Why have so many governments chosen to subsidize green energy initiatives? Can all of these programs be successful? The trauma of the Global Recession of 2008–2009 motivated politicians around the world to seek new ways of rejuvenating their struggling economies. Many of them focused on the promotion of green energy as a critical element of their economic recovery programs.

(Green energy encompasses power generated by sustainable, renewable sources, such as solar, wind, waves and tide, geothermal deposits, biomass, and low-

impact hydroelectric power.) In 2008, then presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed a “New Energy for America”

initiative, which sought to invest $150 billion over 10 years to promote clean energy, reduce dependence on foreign oil, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and create five million new jobs. By stimulating new green energy technologies, candidate Obama believed that the United States would become a dominant exporter in the green energy markets of the future. During his 2010 election campaign, British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to create a £20 billion green homes program. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her Nine-

Point Program designed to increase over a 40-

year period the role of renewable sources in generating Germany’s electricity.

For 2020, Merkel established a goal of having renewable sources provide 35 percent of Germany’s electricity needs. The Canadian province of Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act of 2009 promised to stimulate green energy production and to increase energy efficiency. Similar green energy programs were announced by the governments of China (with a price tag of $220 billion), South Korea ($60 billion), and Japan

($35 billion).