On November 18th, BCTD President Mark Ayers joined Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT) and a coalition of business, labor and consumer advocates in a call to action to address America’s immediate needs for job creation and energy security.  The “Re-Building America” initiative is designed to push the “restart” button the current energy debate and get our policymakers focused on building a cleaner energy future that saves and creates millions of American jobs.  The initiative is designed to foster a national commitment to “retro-fit” 50 million commercial buildings for increased energy efficiencies.

“The American people, and certainly the two and one half million skilled craft professionals that I represent,” said President Ayers, “are in full support of any effort that will produce national energy savings, lessen our dependence on foreign sources of energy, and create jobs and career training opportunities for American workers.”

Ayers went on to implore the Congress that there should be no debate about this initiative.  

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said.  “Building retro-fits are the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of the climate change and energy security debate.  This ought to be the easy part.”

The Re-Building America Coalition is calling on Congress to:

• Establish a stand-alone national Energy Efficiency Resource Standard of 10% by 2020.
• Direct at least one-third of utility allowances for energy efficiency while increasing state allowance allocation for renewables and efficiency to 10% through 2030, dedicating 25% to retrofits.
• Support innovative financing tools for energy efficiency including the Clean Energy Development Administration and its backing for property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Bonds.
• Establish provisions for accelerated depreciation and investment tax credits for advanced HVAC, smart meters, and other energy-efficient technologies and advanced appliances.
• Link federal financial support for retrofit standards for job quality, skills training, reporting, and transparency to ensure consumer confidence and verifiable energy savings.

Building retrofits are an indispensable solution to American economic recovery and a clean energy future that creates jobs, reduces consumer energy costs and curb carbon pollution.  The “Re-Building America Initiative” has been estimates to:

• Create and sustain 625,000 jobs in construction, manufacturing and related fields.
• Save households an average of $832 annually by 2030 as part of comprehensive energy/climate protection legislation.
• Avoids at least 42 million tons of carbon emissions per year, the equivalent of taking 85 million cars off the road by 2020.