Earth Equity News

U.S. Urged to Back $500 Billion for Green Buildings. By Kim Chipman, Bloomberg, August 10, 2009. "President Barack Obama should back a $500 billion plan to make U.S. buildings more energy-efficient because it would aid the economic recovery, increase energy security and reduce global warming, two policy groups said. The plan would increase the energy efficiency of 40 percent of commercial and residential buildings by 2020, generating about 625,000 full-time jobs, and saving families $300 to $1,200 a year in energy costs, according to the proposal today by the Center for American Progress, a research group that advises Democrats, and the Energy Future Coalition, a nonpartisan alliance. 'Rapidly improving the efficiency of our existing buildings is essential,' the Washington-based groups said. The $500 billion would come from a combination of public and private funds. The push to retrofit buildings, which consume 70% of all U.S. electricity and emit 40% of the nation's greenhouse gases, will be discussed today at an energy conference in Las Vegas. Former President Bill Clinton, investor T. Boone Pickens, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Vice President Al Gore were among the scheduled participants."