Rebuilding America: Energy Efficiency
Rebuilding America: New Non-Partisan Policy Framework Supports Efficiency First’s Mission
The Center for American Progress and the Energy Future Coalition have just published the results of a joint non-partisan initiative to develop a comprehensive framework for retrofitting American homes and businesses on a large scale. Here’s a brief excerpt from the introduction to Rebuilding America: A National Policy Framework for Investment in Energy Efficiency Retrofits:
This report is a detailed examination of how the United States can build a low-carbon economy by harnessing energy efficiency as our “first fuel.” By retrofitting existing homes and businesses, we can cost-effectively reduce end-use waste and pollution, and at the same time jump start an economic recovery, create good jobs, and give consumers real energy cost savings—even as we ensure a safer, healthier, and more secure future by combating global warming.
This report sets a goal of developing an energy efficiency industry that will retrofit 40 percent of our nation’s building stock, or 50 million buildings, within the next 10 years. This project would require over $500 billion in public and private investment, and create approximately 625,000 sustained full-time jobs directly and indirectly throughout the decade. Rebuilding America’s buildings for energy efficiency will reduce energy use, household bills, and global warming pollution by 20 to 40 percent for 50 million homes and small businesses, all while generating $32 billion to $64 billion in annual consumer energy cost savings. The report goes on to provide detailed recommendations regarding energy policy, building codes and standards, financing, workforce development and other factors that must be in place for our industry to grow.
An executive summary is available here: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/08/rebuilding_america.html.
Or you can download the entire 50-page report in PDF format here: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/08/pdf/rebuilding_america.pdf
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This report was presented earlier this week at the Energy Summit in NV. It represents a set of recomendations meant to help guide the White House in it process of coordinating the various federal agencies (DOE, EPA, DOL, HUD, and others) to create a plan to achieve scale in the US retrofitting market.