Alliance Applauds White House Announcement on Accelerating Building Efficiency
The Alliance to Save Energy News
Alliance Applauds White House Announcement on Accelerating Building Efficiency
WASHINGTON – The Alliance to Save Energy applauds Monday’s announcement from the White House on new federal investments in building energy efficiency, which recognizes the primary role that efficiency improvements must play in creating equitable economic opportunity and mitigating climate change.
“It’s simple: it is impossible to reach the Biden administration’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 without rapid decarbonization of the building sector, which accounts for 40% of U.S. emissions,” said Alliance President Paula Glover. “Yesterday, the White House announced exactly the kind of action needed – but what really stands out is not just the recognition of the enormous challenge ahead, but the opportunity that energy efficiency investments present to create a more equitable, productive, and innovative energy future. Efficiency is a climate solution where emissions saved amounts to money saved for families, businesses, and taxpayers, and it’s also the largest employer in the clean energy economy. We’re looking forward to working with the administration and Congress in the coming weeks to prioritize energy efficiency as a primary tool to reduce carbon emissions and equitably jumpstart the economy.”
Initiatives announced yesterday align with long-standing priorities for the Alliance. Since the start of President Biden’s term, the Alliance has pushed for eight actions the administration could take immediately on energy efficiency. The announcements address several of these, including:
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Encouraging Active Efficiency. Digital technologies are transforming what energy efficiency can accomplish, and yesterday’s release of the Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings Roadmap – which the Alliance helped inform through a series of Active Efficiency Collaborative workshops – offers concrete recommendations for the smarter, more flexible use of energy.
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Expanding ENERGY STAR. The Alliance has called for a doubling of ENERGY STAR’s shrinking budget to expand its Portfolio Manager and voluntary certification and labeling programs. The White House announced an expansion of the Portfolio Manager tool and a new focus on reaching underserved households through a new ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade program.
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Strengthening federal energy performance. The federal government is the largest energy user in the U.S., and the Alliance has called for executive action to create forward-looking targets for energy and water reductions. As announced yesterday, the White House Council on Environmental Quality will launch the first-ever building performance standards for the federal government, including performance milestones to track agency progress.
Additionally, the administration announced a $30 million investment in workforce development.
“The energy efficiency sector employs more than 2 million Americans in 99.8% of U.S. counties, and this funding will be critical to ensuring that opportunities are available first to candidates not traditionally well-represented in the sector, including women and people of color, and that workers have 21st century skills,” Glover said.
“A brighter energy future requires us to invest first in the communities that have faced energy injustice in the past – whether in the form of energy insecurity, lack of representation in the workforce, or health burdens from pollution. Efficiency solutions are at the heart of any progress, and it’s good to see President Biden acknowledge this. Now the hard work of implementation begins.”
About the Alliance to Save Energy
Founded in 1977, the Alliance to Save Energy is a nonprofit, bipartisan alliance of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders working to expand the economy while using less energy. Our mission is to promote energy productivity worldwide – including through energy efficiency – to achieve a stronger economy, a cleaner environment and greater energy security, affordability, and reliability.
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