Efficiency First

Earlier today, Efficiency First held a conference call to update Efficiency First members on the status of HOME STAR legislation and other work Efficiency First members are engaged in.

Jared Asch, our National Director, spoke about recent developments regarding HOME STAR on Capitol Hill, including the statement from Senator Reid that referred to HOME STAR as part of energy legislation the Senate will soon consider.

Also, Efficiency First board member Doug Donovan discussed the Best Practices projects Efficiency First is working on and how members can participate.

Members can log in at www.efficiencyfirst.org/webinars to listen to the recording.

Washington, DC—Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following remarks at a media availability today following a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting to discuss energy legislation in the Senate.  Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“We have a responsibility – both to our constituents and our children – to take on America’s energy challenge. Many of us want to do that through a comprehensive bill that creates jobs, breaks our addiction to oil and curbs pollution.  Unfortunately, at this time not one Republican wants to join us in achieving this goal. That isn’t just disappointing.  It’s dangerous.

“So, the President, Senator Kerry, and I will continue to reach out to Republicans and work with the environmental and energy community to garner the support needed to move forward on a larger bill. But Republican political calculations don’t change our obligation to lay the foundations of a safer and stronger future. So in the coming days we’re going to introduce a solid four-part bill.

“One, we will hold BP accountable. We will ensure it pays to clean up its mess, and we will put forth measures to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again. Two, we will create clean-energy jobs across America. Home Star is a bipartisan energy efficiency program that will not only lower consumers’ energy costs, but create American jobs that can never be outsourced. Three, we will lessen our dependence on oil.

“And fourth, our country is blessed with abundant resources and we must tap into those. That is why we will invest in the manufacturing of natural gas vehicles.  We will protect our environment by investing in the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Doing so now will help ensure our land and water is protected long into the future – even from the effects of climate change.

“To be clear: we are not putting forth this bill in place of a comprehensive bill. But we will not pass up the opportunity to hold BP accountable, lessen our dependence on oil, create good paying American jobs and protect the environment.  I’m disappointed in my Republican colleagues, who again find themselves on the wrong side of history. But as we work through our differences on a comprehensive energy bill, Republicans have an immediate choice to make.

“They can join with us to pass these simple, straight forward bipartisan measures to hold BP accountable, lessen our dependence on oil and create jobs, or they can continue to protect big oil companies and kill job growth in America.”

Your grassroots activities are making a difference – 2 new Senators joined as co-sponsors this week.

Previous Sponsors

• Sen Begich, Mark [AK-D]
• Sen Brown, Scott P. [MA-R]
• Sen Brown, Sherrod (OH-D)
• Sen Burris, Roland [IL-D]
• Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA-D]
• Sen Cardin, Benjamin [MD-D]
• Sen Carper, Thomas R. [DE-D]
• Sen Durbin, Richard [IL-D, Assistant Majority Leader]
• Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT-D]
• Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY-D]
• Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC-R]
• Sen Harkin, Tom [IA-D]
• Sen. Kaufman, Edward (DE-D)
• Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN-D]
• Sen. Lautenberg, Frank (NJ-D) *submitted paperwork
• Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT-D]
• Sen Merkley, Jeff [OR-D]
• Sen. Mikulski, Barbara (MD-D)
• Sen Pryor, Mark L. [AR-D]
• Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT-I]
• Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY-D]
• Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME-R]
• Sen Stabenow, Debbie [MI-D]
• Sen Specter, Arlen [PA-D] *submitted paperwork
• Sen Warner, Mark R. [VA-D]
• Sen Webb, Jim [VA-D]
• Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI-D]

Grist staff writer Jonathan Hiskes reported yesterday that New York Congressman Steve Israel and two other House members met Tuesday with representatives of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)  to discuss options for removing current regulatory barriers to property assessed clean energy (PACE)  financing. According to Hiskes’ report. Israel proposed a 30-month demonstration project involving 300,000 homes to “test out FHFA’s concern that PACE creates additional risk for mortgage lenders.”

Interviewed after the meeting, Israel is quoted as saying that ”Right now you’ve got the regulatory community advancing a theory about PACE bonds. You have PACE advocates advancing their theory. Let’s test out which theory is valid. At the end of the 30-month period we’ll have hard data on which to base decisions.”

FHFA officials declined to comment.

Read the rest of the report at www.grist.org/article/2010-07-20-fate-of-pace-clean-energy-programs-about-to-become-clearer.

Blogging for The Huffington Post, Laura A. Hutchings of Colorado-based Populus Sustainable Design Consulting (www.popboulder.com) has posted a statement from Efficiency First Chairman Greg Thomas and Policy Chair Matt Golden regarding the inclusion of HOME STAR in the Small Business Jobs Bill now under consideration in the Senate. The statement reads in part:

This bipartisan legislation, which passed the House of Representatives in May and now resides in the Senate, has the potential to create an estimated 168,000 new jobs in construction and related industries over the next two years. Much of the hiring would be done by small business owners in all 50 states who are already engaged in saving American homeowners money on their energy bills. The program has strong support from a broad spectrum of business leaders, trade associations, environmental groups and nonprofit organizations, ranging from local contractors and HVAC services to the Sierra Club and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

America’s Home Performance industry is poised to take on the task of retrofitting America’s existing housing stock with cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades, but now that word has gotten out about Home Star, we’ve seen a 15-20 percent drop in business over the past two months as consumers wait for the Home Star incentives to become available. The sooner we get this law enacted, the sooner we’ll be able to get hardworking Americans off the unemployment rolls and back in productive jobs that are good for the nation and the environment.

To ensure rapid near-term job creation in the construction industry, we call on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring Home Star to the Senate floor this week as part of the Small Business Jobs bill.

As co-chair of the Colorado Chapter of Efficiency First, Hutchings has been an active proponent for HOME STAR and other policy initiatives that will have a strong positive impact on the Home Performance industry. Read her full blog post at www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-a-hutchings/revive-americas-construct_b_653430.html.

Efficiency First members from the Michigan Chapter are helping with the launch of a statewide energy improvement financing program to help Michigan residents, businesses and institutions pay for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades. Michigan Saves will work with privated lenders to finance the installation of energy measures with no upfront cost to utility customers, who will pay back the cost of the measures over time using utility bill savings.

“Michigan Saves knows that customers want an easy-to-understand, hassle-free process that offers real savings,” said Sally Talberg, the program’s Operations Manager. “Michigan Saves is developing sensible, flexible financing packages, establishing a network of qualified contractors, and helping link potential customers to energy audit services to make energy efficiency accessible throughout the state,” she added.

“Michigan Saves will be a contractor-driven program, and Power Marketing and Research is working closely with Michigan Saves to develop a marketing toolkit that will help contractors promote and communicate the benefits of the program,” said Debra Power, President of Power Marketing and Research.  ”Our key message to homeowners is that the program is sasy, affordable and smart.”

Scott Phillips, who chairs the Michigan Chapter of Efficiency First, has asked Efficiency First Members to support the program through a beta test to ensure that the program application process for contractors is easy and streamlined. “I would like to see the Michigan Chapter help get the program launched and gain momentum quickly,” he said.

Learn more about Michigan Saves at michigansaves.org.

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced 15 research and deployment partnerships to help dramatically improve the energy efficiency of American homes. These highly-qualified, multidisciplinary teams will receive a total of up to $30 million for the initial eighteen months of the projects to deliver innovative energy efficiency strategies to the residential market and address barriers to bringing high-efficiency homes within reach for all Americans.

For more information

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=370

In the next 24 hours, Senate leadership will decide whether to include HOME STAR in the Small Business Jobs Bill now or delay it until the Fall.

Some in the Senate believe HOME STAR should be delayed until a larger energy bill is negotiated, but the timeframe on that is indefinite.

This means we need to get HOME STAR into the Small Business Jobs Bill now. And we can do it – but Senators need to hear from constituents how extremely important this legislation is! HOME STAR’s Champions, Senators Jeff Bingaman (NM), Mark Warner (VA) and Olympia Snowe (ME), know that the construction industry is hurting and HOME STAR will make the most impact if it is passed now.

We know this has been a busy few weeks on HOME STAR but this is the time to have your voice heard. CALL SENATE LEADERSHIP NOW – use the talking points below and tell them to include HOME STAR in the Small Business Jobs Bill.

SENATOR REID’S OFFICE: 202-224-3542

SENATOR BAUCUS’S OFFICE: 202-224-2651

Tell us you have made the calls!

This is it — we need you to call your senators today. At stake is $6 billion worth of rebates and incentives for residential energy efficiency retrofits. If this will help your business, please take 5 minutes and make a call today.

Your calls matter – our efforts over the last two weeks saw 4 new Senate co-sponsors come on board.

Call again today and help push HOME STAR through.

Here’s how:

Call the offices of Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (202-224-3542) AND Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (202-224-2651).

• Introduce yourself and your company
• Ask them to champion the inclusion of the bi-partisan HOME STAR legislation in the Small Business Jobs bill. Tell them not to delay, because the Small Business Jobs bill will be finalized soon.
• The bi-partisan HOME STAR legislation has over 25 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle.
• Say that HOME STAR will create thousands of jobs in the hard hit construction, manufacturing and residential retrofit industries – jobs in every state
• HOME STAR is supported by over 2100 small and medium sized businesses and is a triple win for the US Economy:
  • Putting the hardest hit industries back to work, especially as we near the fall retrofit season
  • Saving money for homeowners on energy bills
  • Leading us down a path toward energy independence
• HOME STAR has the support of the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and Edison Electric Institute.
• Let them know the time is now and thank them for their consideration and possible support.

Tell us you have called by clicking here.

With your help, we can move HOME STAR forward in the Senate.

Senator Dick Durbin Democrat of Illinois.

Durbin joins the growing list of co-sponsors in the Senate. Durbin’s leadership position and senionarity in the Senate is a big step forward for HOME STAR.

HOME STAR Coalition reaches 2,167 a gain of 600 plus in a week.

Join www.homestarcoalition.org