It was an historic moment in American history. The election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States has energized not only a country but the world, and brought hope that change is indeed possible. His appointments to major science and energy posts signal that the United States is finally prepared to lead the war on Global Warming and change the way we create and use energy in the 21st Century.

How do these appointments translate into policy? That’s the tricky part. Faced with two unfinished wars, a crumbling economy and a complicated energy situation that compromises the world’s major ills, Obama and his team will have challenges not seen since Franklin Roosevelt took office in the post-depression era. And that’s just the economy. Green means energy, and how we use it, and how it impacts the environment. What’s encouraging is that this might just be the right leadership to tackle the challenges. They see these challenges as opportunities. However, the obstacles are many.

Today’s power industry remains a fossil-fuel driven machine. Coal is still king while natural gas is quickly becoming a mainstream source to power electric utility plants, and no longer a fuel for peaking units. Combined, coal, natural gas and a small amount of petroleum, generate about 70% of electricity produced in the United States. Our aging nuclear power plants produce about 20%, and we still do not have a viable plan to store nuclear waste. Therefore we are 90% dependent on either fossil fuels or nuclear power to provide the electricity we need to live. The transportation sector is about 97% fossil-fuel based. These are the equations that must change. These are the battles The Green Economy must win, but as you can see, it will be challenging.

The magnitude must be appreciated in order for government, industry and society as a whole to bring change. It is the challenge of the 21st Century, where the United States must provide the leadership. We may not be the industrial-manufacturing giant we once were, but we remain the center of invention and innovation. This is where our publication takes you. Inside that world of invention and technology—showing you just how far we’ve come in such a short time, but never forgetting how far we have to go. It won’t happen overnight, but it is happening. For example, did you know that of all the new power generating units that came online between January and May 2008, 40.5% of megawatts produced came from wind energy? This is just an example of how these technologies are advancing.

We will take you inside the world of battery technology—and the battery alternatives that could change the way we fuel our cars. Are six minute charges possible as opposed to six hour charges that send a vehicle on its way for 6 hours of driving? Can we fuel vehicles of the future with one of the most prolific organisms on the planet? Can waste fuel a futuristic mass transit system?

This is the road we travel. It will be bumpy, but these early days will provide opportunity we haven’t seen since Henry Ford introduced his Model T and revolutionized transportation and American industry. He was known as the father of modern assembly lines but in addition to being a shrewd business man, he was a prolific inventor as well as an innovator. Personally, he was awarded 161 U.S. patents. So who is the next Henry Ford? He or she is probably within the pages of The Green Economy Inc.