Clean Energy News

Savannah, GA - A comprehensive plan to make our nation's buildings more efficient by 2030 could save enough energy to power all of our nation's cars, homes and businesses for a year and a half while saving Americans more than $500 billion, according to a new report by Environment Georgia. By renovating old buildings and ensuring that new ones use 50 percent less energy within ten years and generate as much energy as they use by 2030, we can cut U.S. global warming emissions by at least 34 percent by 2050.

"Bold action to improve the efficiency of our buildings would go a long way toward meeting America's energy challenges and stopping global warming," said Jennette Gayer of Environment Georgia. "And we create local jobs and save Americans money by doing so. But, we must act now."

Nearly half of America's energy - and 10 percent of the energy used in the world - goes towards powering our buildings, and much of that energy is wasted. Buildings account for 40 percent of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming.

Economic Opportunity for Savannah the non-profit funded by the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) to carry out weatherization retrofits in Chatham County can attest to the energy and money savings available to local residents "We have barely scratched the surface of what's possible with energy efficiency in Savannah homes," said John Finney the Executive Director of Economic Opportunity for Savannah. "By taking simple steps like adding more insulation and sealing ducts we can save consumers money, use less energy and shrink our impact on the environment"

Weatherization funds received a 65 percent increase from the recently enacted American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. GEFA has slightly over 130 million to invest in weatherization programs around the state compared to several million in years past.

Building a Better Future: Moving Toward Zero Pollution With Highly Efficient Homes and Businesses outlines policy steps that local and state officials and the federal government can take to significantly cut energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The report calls for a comprehensive plan to make our nation's buildings more efficient including:

* Upgrading and enforcing building energy codes to require 30 percent more efficiency by 2012 and 50 percent more efficiency by 2018, and have all new buildings and substantial renovations meet these codes;

* Setting codes to have all new buildings be zero-net energy by 2030 through a combination of energy efficiency and onsite renewable energy;

* Stimulating investments in energy efficiency retrofits in all existing commercial and residential buildings before 2030.

The report illustrates the scale of reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that can be achieved by adopting these measures, including:

* Saving 144 quadrillion BTU, or enough energy to power all of America's homes, businesses, cars, and power plants for a year and a half;

* Avoiding a total 11.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050, nearly equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of the U.S. and China combined;

* Paying back up front costs and netting more than 2 billion in energy savings from renovating existing buildings.

“There's both a moral and financial imperative to building green,” said Martin Melaver, CEO of Melaver Inc. “The financial imperative is simple: your business will no longer be competitive in a market that is quickly going green. The moral imperative is even simpler: You can't do business on a dead planet.”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Representative John Barrow is a member, is slated to begin considering the American Clean Energy and Security Act as early as tomorrow. The committee is aiming to pass the bill before Congress recesses next Friday for the Memorial Day break, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the full House will consider the bill this summer. The bill sets a framework for moving to a clean energy economy and stopping global warming and includes strong requirements to promote efficiency in new and existing buildings.

"Our environmental and economic future depends taking bold action to promote high performance, energy efficient buildings today. We're calling on Representative Barrow to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act," concluded Gayer.

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Environment Georgia is a statewide citizen funded Environmental Group

Efficiency-Report.pdf