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Biden rolls out home energy efficiency program

BY STEVEN THOMMAMCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a new federal
program to make it easier for Americans to make their homes more energy
efficient, saying it will help people save money and create new jobs for
contractors.

The three-step program, called Recovery Through Retrofit, will offer new
software for contractors to easily show people how much they can save, offer
low-cost financing to help people pay for home improvements and set new
guidelines for contractors to assure the public the work is done right.

Biden, who announced the plan at the White House, said that it will give
families "the tools they need to invest in home energy upgrades. Together,
these programs will grow the home retrofit industry and help middle-class
families save money and energy."

The Obama administration didn't immediately release estimates of either the
costs of the program or how many jobs it could create.

The Home Energy Score Program will provide new software that will produce a
score of 1 to 10 in a graphic that will compare the efficiency of someone's
home compared to other homes in the same area and climate.

It will offer an estimate of how much money could be saved with energy
retrofits, a list of recommended improvements and an estimate of annual
savings.

White House aides said the availability of simple, trustworthy information
should help more people invest in making their homes more energy efficient.

"Most consumers do not have access to straightforward and reliable
information about their home's energy use," said a White House information
sheet. "Without this information, homeowners are less likely to invest in
home energy upgrades."

The software will be offered to trained and certified contractors to use
during a one-hour walkthrough of people's homes.

"The Home Energy Score will help make energy efficiency easy and accessible
to America's families by providing them with straightforward and reliable
information about their homes' energy performance and specific,
cost-effective energy efficiency improvements that will save them money on
their monthly energy bills," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

To help people pay for the work, the administration will unveil the
PowerSaver loan program.

Offered through the Federal Housing Administration under a two-year pilot
program, it will offer low-rate loans that could be repaid over periods as
long as 20 years.

"PowerSaver will help more homeowners afford common sense, cost saving
improvements to their homes, and will create jobs for contractors,
installers and energy auditors across the country," said Shaun Donovan, the
secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Finally, the program will produce voluntary guidelines to identify the
skills and expertise needed for people working in the energy retrofit
business.

A White House report said: "Currently, there are not enough well-trained
residential energy retrofit workers and not enough green entrepreneurs to
expand the home energy efficiency industry."


Read more:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/09/1917403/biden-rolls-out-home-energy-efficiency.html#ixzz14qbswUM0
--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.co