Rep. Peter Welch on the Lasting Value of HOME STAR
Last week Politico published an insightful editorial about the proposed HOME STAR incentive program written by Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and a prominent advocate for smart energy efficiency legislation.
“Rare is the initiative that could save the job of a Michigan factory worker, help a Vermonter heat her home and put an Arizona contractor back out in the field,” Welch writes. “But one program embraced by President Barack Obama and gaining momentum in Congress would accomplish all three — and then some.”
Welch goes on to describe HOME STAR as “a simple idea that would provide immediate, tangible benefits for local economies across the country, while helping families pay their energy bills.”
“The benefits of HOME STAR would go far beyond job creation,” Welch adds. “For a stimulus program to be worth its cost, it must not only create a short-term economic boost but also generate lasting value. HOME STAR would do that by breaking down the key barrier between homeowners and money-saving retrofits: upfront costs. Leveraging private capital, the rebates would enable the renovation of 3 million homes for a fraction of the federal investment. The savings for homeowners — between $200 and $500 a year in reduced energy bills — would be invaluable to families throughout the country.”
Read all of Rep. Welch’s editorial here:
www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34213_Page2.html#ixzz0iGLhGQ3Y
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If the President and Congress would reconsider the whole idea of how we all use energy in this country, perhaps they might want to consider helping small businesses achieve higher states of energy efficiency as well. They provide 80% of new job creation and such a step would help make them more competitive in more markets around the world. It would go a very long way to helping this country reduce our carbon footprint and thereby increase our standing in the world wide community. It appears, however, that what they are currently proposing is really just another cheap, knee jerk populist reaction to a far more serious global crisis.
Why not lobby for a far more grandiose national program called Small Business Star, or a Platinum Star program for all of us who want to do everything we can to make the really big committments that are absolutely neccessary to do the job right…the second time around? Green retrofit every building this country ever built to make them all at least 40% or more efficient. There’d be enough work for millions of people for the next ten years at least.