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Better Buildings Initiative

Posted on 06. Apr, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton in Greener Properties

Who knew there was a link between energy savings at your local property management office and job creation on a national level?

Yet President Obama’s Better Buildings Initiative connects the two. According to the President, “[m]aking our buildings more energy efficient is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to save money, combat pollution and create jobs right here in the United States of America.”

In a nutshell, the initiative is an attempt to incentivize energy efficiency in commercial buildings nationwide, including schools, hospitals, offices, stores and universities. The goal is to reduce energy use by twenty percent over the next decade, while simultaneously decreasing both energy costs and carbon footprints for participating building owners. A twenty-percent reduction in energy use is certainly not insurmountable. In fact, many eco-advocates think this goal is not challenging enough, but still believe it’s an important first step.

There are five key points to the Better Buildings Initiative:

1.    New Tax Incentives: The current tax deduction for energy-efficiency upgrades for commercial buildings would become a credit.

2.    More Financing Opportunities: The President’s budget includes a proposal for a Department of Energy pilot program that would guarantee loans for energy-efficiency upgrades at hospitals, schools and other commercial buildings.

3.    “Race to Green”: Also included in the President’s budget is a proposal for competitive grants to states or local governments to encourage them to streamline regulations and attract private investment for retrofit projects.

4.    The Better Buildings Challenge: This is a direct challenge from the President to corporate CEOs and university presidents to lead the charge in energy savings by implementing specific energy-efficiency initiatives within their organizations and institutions.

5.    Training Next-Gen Workers: The President’s Administration hopes to improve the transparency of energy-efficiency performance, create strategic partnerships and provide workplace training in energy auditing and building operations, among other areas.

(If you’re curious, read the entire initiative.)

Now, reducing energy consumption while saving money is already a double-win. But creating jobs while we’re at it makes for a truly compelling plan.

The Empire State Building serves as a good example of an older building undergoing a retrofit that will make its commercial space far more competitive, while delivering some rather amazing reductions in energy usage, pollution and costs. Here are the projections: This project is expected to reduce energy use by 38 percent by 2013, which will save an approximate $4.4 million every year and reduce building pollution by 105,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. And, of course, the retrofit is creating jobs.

What do you think of the President’s Better Buildings Initiative?

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Tags: Energy Efficient, environmentally conscious, Real Estate, Tax Incentives, Technology