Doug Letterman via flickrPop quiz: What saves money, saves energy, creates green jobs, fights climate change, can fix the economy, will make America great again, and is both a floor wax and a dessert topping?

Answer: It’s weatherization! And both the U.S. government and the European Union are embracing its potential.

In a report released today, Joe Biden’s Middle Class Task Force (which, hello: still a terrible name) recommends steps toward a national retrofit program, citing a potential $21 billion in annual energy savings and 40 percent cut in energy use. Specific proposals include: an Energy Star-style labeling program for existing homes; a national home energy performance measure; municipal financing that attaches retrofit costs to homeowners’ tax bills; and national standards for workforce training and certification.

“These recommendations can pave the way for a self-sustaining retrofit market, a market that can reliably cut energy bills while also creating good green jobs and saving consumers money,” says the report. Hear that? Weatherization will save us all.

Next step? Another task force! Yesssss. The interagency Energy Retrofit Working Group will submit an implementation plan to Biden in thirty days. At which point he will create a subcommittee to ... oh hell, just go add some insulation to your attic. We’ll let you know when the good stuff comes.

Meanwhile, across the pond, a draft EU report recommends retrofitting 15 million buildings in Europe over the next decade as part of an “energy efficiency action plan” aimed at cutting energy use by 20 percent. The European Building Initiative would generate about $19.7 billion in savings and could create 300,000 jobs a year, the report estimates: “Investing in energy efficiency in buildings can play a key role in the EU’s economic recovery.”

Hear that? Go on, repeat after me: Weatherization will save us all.

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Sick transit?arvindgrover via flickrThis morning, Vice President Biden went slightly off-message about swine flu—just enough to freak out the White House, and potentially enough to freak out hypochondriacal Americans. Appearing on NBC’s Today Show, he responded to a question from Matt Lauer by saying he would advise his own family not to “go anywhere in confined places now.” He specifically mentioned planes, subways, and even cars as spaces that could be unsafe (he also mentioned classrooms and, uh, containers).

The White House scrambled to tweak the message, saying that all Americans should avoid air travel to Mexico and that only those who are feeling sick should avoid hopping on the subway. And lord knows public transportation doesn’t need a mass exodus, given the troubles it’s already facing.

But is Biden right? Should we avoid the subway and other confined spaces?

Not so fast, says David Goldberg of Smart Growth America, which advocates for public transportation as part of community planning. “Certainly it’s understandable that people are concerned,” he told me. “But if you can’t get on a subway or a plane, then you probably shouldn’t be in an office where they recycle the air, and you probably shouldn’t be at a shopping mall.” Far from “holing up in our bunkers,” Goldberg says, the best approach is to use common sense. “The precautions you should take if you’re using public transportation are the same as if you’re in any public space.”

Dr. John Balbus, chief health scientist at Environmental Defense, echoes that sentiment, and says the current threat is getting blown out of proportion. “Every year the United States experiences an influenza epidemic that kills thousands of people,” he says. “It runs from October through March, and we don’t tell people to stop using the subway then.” Balbus, a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, says there are no indications at this stage that swine flu is much more severe than other flu strains we’ve encountered recently.

“Is it risk-free to take the subway? No, absolutely not,” says Balbus. “But it’s not risk-free to take it during any flu outbreak. It just requires common-sense precautions.”

What are those precautions? The basics: Wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, and for the love of Pete, stay home if you’re sick. And one more tip for those who brave the subway, says Goldberg: “Don’t wrestle on the floor with a sneezing stranger.”

Here’s Biden in the (uninfected) flesh:

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The Obama administration has big plans to create a "world-class passenger rail system" across the country, the president announced this morning.

"What we need ... is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century," said Obama. "A system that reduces travel times and increases mobility. A system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity. A system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs."

Vice President Joe Biden -- a rail enthusiast -- joined Obama in making the announcement. "With high-speed rail system, we're going to be able to pull people off the road, lowering our dependence on foreign oil, lowering the bill for our gas in our gas tanks," Biden said. "We're going to loosen the congestion that also has great impact on productivity, I might add, the people sitting at stop lights right now in overcrowded streets and cities. We're also going to deal with the suffocation that's taking place in our major metropolitan areas as a consequence of that congestion. And we're going to significantly lessen the damage to our planet. This is a giant environmental down payment."

The plan calls for development of a new "efficient, high-speed passenger rail network in 100-600 mile corridors." It would be paid for with the $8 billion for rail that was included in the economic-stimulus package, as well as the $1 billion per year over the next five years that the administration requested in its budget. These funds would be a "down payment," according to the White House. The admin expects more funds to be made available through the reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs later this year.

The administration has identified 10 potential corridors for high-speed rail (also see the map below):

The admin also says there are opportunities to expand service in the Northeast Corridor, from Washington to Boston -- currently the only place in the country where high-speed rail is up and running.

"All in all, we're going to make travel in this country leaner and a whole lot cleaner," Biden said. "And as we look to the future, we're going to ensure that we can travel through the system that is sound, secure, and able to handle full-speed-ahead progress for this new economy."

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