Monday, October 19, 2009
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The White House today will release a plan to remove some of the obstacles that prevent middle-class Americans from getting energy audits and making their homes more energy-efficient.
America’s nearly 130 million homes generate about 20 percent of the nation’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal heat-trapping gas, says a report being released today by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Vice President Joe Biden’s Middle Class Task Force. McClatchy obtained an early copy.
Biden said the plan would add jobs that couldn’t be outsourced and make it easier for families to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Installing more insulation and more energy-efficient doors, windows, lighting, water heaters, air conditioning and appliances can reduce energy use in a house by as much as 40 percent, meaning considerable monthly savings on utility bills.
The White House estimates weatherization also could lower greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 160 million metric tons annually by 2020, but one of the biggest hurdles to greater energy efficiency is cost.
Although energy-efficiency retrofits save money on energy bills, they can cost as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on how much work is needed. The new recommendations, which use existing federal funding, include ways to finance projects so homeowners will be more likely to undertake them.
The new program is intended to expand a national energy retrofit market beyond the $5 billion weatherization program for low-income households in this year’s economic stimulus package.
A family of four that earns less than $44,100 a year, or $55,140 in Alaska and $50,720 in Hawaii, can qualify for the low-income program.
The report recommends improving information about weatherization.
For example, the federal government will develop an energy performance label for houses with efficiency upgrades that’s similar to the Energy Star label for new houses, which makes it possible to estimate monthly energy costs.
The plan also calls for national certification and training standards for workers who make the efficiency improvements.
Part of today’s announcement will be a new $454 million program from the Department of Energy that will look for ways to retrofit residential and commercial buildings in entire neighborhoods or communities, taking advantage of economies of scale that would lower individual costs.
The federal funds would go to create eight to 20 pilot programs that would organize the group offers and provide ways to finance the improvements.
The DOE hasn’t announced where the programs will be. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said earlier this month at a briefing for representatives of clean energy businesses that if it’s successful, the department hopes to expand it.