Proposed ‘Better Buildings Initiative’ Puts Muscle, Money Behind President Obama’s Commitment to Energy Efficiency | Alliance to Save Energy

Proposed ‘Better Buildings Initiative’ Puts Muscle, Money Behind President Obama’s Commitment to Energy Efficiency

The Alliance to Save Energy News

Proposed ‘Better Buildings Initiative’ Puts Muscle, Money Behind President Obama’s Commitment to Energy Efficiency

Release Date: Thursday, February 3, 2011

Statement from the Alliance to Save Energy

Washington, D.C., February 3, 2011 – “The Alliance to Save Energy is pleased to see the Obama Administration putting financial muscle behind its energy efficiency commitment, as recently articulated in the president’s State of the Union address,” said Alliance Senior Vice President for Policy and Research Floyd DesChamps. “We applaud, as well, the president’s continuing commitment to improving residential energy efficiency.

“The plan to make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient by 2020 recognizes, as we do, that energy efficiency saves money and creates jobs – with the potential to save companies and business owners some $40 billion annually in energy costs,” DesChamps added.

The exciting opportunities that the president’s Better Buildings Initiative outlines include:

  • New tax incentives for making commercial buildings more energy-efficient;
  • More financing opportunities for commercial retrofits;
  • A “Race to the Green” competitive grant program for state and municipal governments that may encourage them to adopt more effective regulations and attract private investment for retrofits;
  • A Better Buildings Challenge to CEOs and university presidents to make their institutions leaders in energy efficiency; and
  • Training for the next generation of commercial building technology workers and launching a Building Construction Technology Partnership.

“We look forward to receiving more details on this proposal for saving energy and creating domestic jobs in the president’s budget request and to working with the administration and Congress to further deploy energy efficiency into the commercial buildings sector.”

For more information on the Better Buildings Initiative, read the White House fact sheet and contact Alliance Media Relations Director Ronnie Kweller.

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