by Carl Pope
Sierra Magazine
March/April 2009
Retrofitting America could jump-start our economy...
...Quite simply, we need to rebuild America. We need to retrofit our entire housing stock, and in a hurry. Economically it makes sense. Most older buildings could halve their energy consumption with improvements that pay for themselves. Homeowners and small-business owners ought to be able to call a toll-free number to arrange for an energy audit and the necessary retrofit work. Their utility bills would decrease, and half the savings could go to repaying their loans. GreenSaver, a nonprofit in Toronto, has embraced this concept and is already making money; Berkeley, California, is letting citizens who install solar power systems pay for them over 20 years through their property taxes.
Happily, this prescription is no longer being promoted solely by the Sierra Club and a handful of progressive cities and states: President Barack Obama himself has embraced the vision described here. His first economic recovery package emphasized retrofitting public buildings--it's easy and fast. This will jump-start the green building industry by requiring worker training and new factories to make energy-efficient windows, insulation, furnaces, and air conditioners. Local and state governments will see their operating costs plummet (utility bills are often their second-biggest expense after salaries) and could repay the loans with the savings.
And once we finish with public buildings, we will have the infrastructure in place to rebuild the rest of the country. Every year the federal government gives out $5 billion to help poor people pay their utility bills; why not spend $100 billion, once, to insulate and retrofit homes to slash power bills permanently? (continued)
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