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US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Promotes Green Buildings Legislation
The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has advanced measure S. 1000, which is “a bill to promote energy savings in residential and commercial buildings and industry, and for other purposes.” The bill, which is titled, Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2011 will create stronger building codes and appliance standards, create and increase existing funding for building efficiency projects through a variety of financial instruments. strengthen industrial efficiency and competitiveness, and introduce measures to improve federal agency build efficiencies.
The legislation will advance targets for national building energy codes significantly, resulting in savings of $43 billion through 2030 for homeowners and creating between 20,000 and 40,000 energy efficiency-related jobs.
Jason Hartke of the US Green Building Council had this to say about the development: “The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act include provisions to regularly update the existing national model building codes. As a developer and strategic partner in the release of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) USGBC supports changes to strengthen performance and raise the floor for all buildings.”
Passing with a bipartisan majority of 18-3, this bill, which was introduced by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), still needs to get to the Senate floor, though when that will happen is not yet known. That said, it has already received support from over 100 companies and organizations, including the USGBC, AT&T, Best Buy, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Siemens Corporation, Earthjustice, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Find full details about the bill through the Alliance to Save Energy.
