Update: For a rundown of green building provisions in the stimulus pacakge, see this post.
Over the weekend, news broke that the massive economic stimulus package will not be ready for President-Elect Barack Obama to sign on day one. As you may recall, President-Elect Obama had previously indicated that the stimulus package would include support for green building strategies.
While it was not previously clear what green building strategies were to be included, a December 24, 2008 letter from the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a business-environmental coalition arguing for mandatory global warming legislation, detailed what it believed should be included as part of the package:
It is possible to move fast and make investments in energy efficiency that can immediately put people to work on transit projects and existing building retrofits. These include weatherization, insulation, HVAC upgrades, and use of waste heat in industrial processes and facilities.
Rural and urban homes and businesses alike can take advantage of renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic systems, hot water heaters or small wind turbines, and communities can benefit from development of local renewable energy resources.
This letter was signed by CEOs of some of the biggest corporations in the energy industry:
Alcoa
The Dow Chemical Company
Duke Energy
DuPont
General Electric
NRG Energy, Inc.
PG&E Corporation
PNM Resources
Siemens Corporation
With much of the energy industry and the President-Elect supporting a stimulus package that invests in energy efficiency strategies, we are likely to see an influx of capital for green building projects.
How is your business preparing for these new construction opportunities?
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