Hi, I'm Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, and today I would like to talk to you about President Barack Obama's new budget.
I was really delighted but not a bit surprised to see that the president is actually proposing new spending and new programs for energy efficiency, even in the face of having to cut so many other programs due to our deficit.
The president is putting financial muscle behind what he told us in the State of the Union, and that is that investment in energy efficiency creates jobs and saves Americans money.
For example, he's proposed the Better Buildings Initiative, which will prompt energy efficiency upgrades in our nation's commercial buildings sector. These upgrades are going to save building owners $40 billion dollars a year between now and the end of the decade. And the president's budget proposes incentives from municipalities to make the same kind of energy-efficient upgrades to their own facilities. And the president has propsed to double – yes, you heard me right – he's proposed to double investment in cutting edge energy research.
The Alliance to Save Energy will be working with members from both sides of the political aisle on Capitol Hill to make sure that these proposals are the right fuel to sky rocket advancements in energy efficiency between now and the end of this decade and we ask that you join us in urging the congress to put the budget ax away when it comes to energy efficiency programs and technology. These are technologies that are saving Americans money today and they are advancing and making better our economy right now and will do so into the future.
