Should the Government Help You Buy a Solar Panel?

Eventually, when the loan is paid off, the system will provide "free" electricity to the home, and the sale of excess energy could provide a little cash, thus stimulating the need to exercise restraint in energy usage.

Supkis says she picked the figure of $100 billion "out of my hat," but she notes it's about what the United States plans to spend in the effort to rebuild Iraq.

Unfortunately, like so many timely ideas these days, this one probably won't go anywhere either. As long as energy remains relatively cheap, it's easy to put this aside, ignoring a problem that isn't going to go away.

But photovoltaic systems have vastly improved over the past few years, and more and more public utility companies and government agencies are launching efforts to tap into a resource that won't run dry. Imagine how far that technology would advance if there was a viable marketplace filled with home owners eager to buy the latest system, with just a little help from Uncle Sam.

Nothing stimulates progress like money.

Lee Dye’s column appears weekly on ABCNEWS.com. A former science writer for the Los Angeles Times, he now lives in Juneau, Alaska.