Insulation = sexy?

Speaking at a Northern Virginia Home Depot about the benefits of energy efficiency, President Obama had an interesting way to describe the subject - “sexy.”

The President said he disagreed with the comment made by one of the participants during the roundtable, that was held before his remarks, who stated that insulation was not sexy, “I disagree...here's what's sexy about it, saving money.”

Mr. Obama argued that by weatherizing homes and buildings, people would actually end up saving money. The challenge, said the President, was for people to get the money up front to make the investments into their homes: “that's why I'm calling on Congress to provide new temporary incentives for Americans to make energy-efficiency retrofit investments in their homes, and we want them to do it soon.”

The President also asserted that energy efficiency could stimulate jobs and reiterated his feelings on insulation, “I'm excited about it. I hope you are, too. See, I told you insulation is sexy.”

The President who used the adjective “sexy” four times during his remarks, seems to subscribe to the view that “sex sells," using the term to spice up some otherwise decidedly unsexy subjects in the past. During another speech on energy efficiency, Mr. Obama noted that “light bulbs might not seem sexy” but that replacing regular light bulbs with energy-efficient light bulbs held enormous promise in cost saving measures . He also used the term during a campaign rally for then Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey, while trying to get people out to vote, “Here's the time when it's not as sexy, it's not as flashy.”