Full Story at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/03/05/push-begins-for-building-star-incentives-for-commercial-properties/

First there was Energy Star, the long-established energy ratings system. Then came Home Star, an incentive program supported by President Obama. Now, the Senate has introduced a bill that would establish a Building Star program to provide incentives to commercial buildings related to their energy efficiency.

Building Star would promote energy efficient installations in commercial and multi-family residential buildings.

The bill was introduced March 4 by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).

The program is expected to save building owners more than $3 billion on their energy bills annually by reducing peak electricity demand by an equivalent amount of power as that supplied by 33 300-megawatt power plants.

If fully realized, the program would help reduce U.S. emissions by 21 million metric tons, the bill’s sponsors say.

“Buildings represent 40 percent of the energy used in the United States, and many have old equipment that waste energy and money,” Pryor said.

In addition to rebates to reduce the cost of energy-saving measures such as high-efficiency heating and improved insulation, “Building Star” would also extend low-interest financing options to small businesses and other building owners.

Building Star is similar to Home Star, a parallel program put forward by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) that offers energy-efficiency assistance to homeowners.

Through the umbrella group Rebuilding America, Building Star has the support of the National Electrical Contractors Association, the Energy Future Coalition and the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The American Architectural Manufacturers Association also has pledged its support for the measure.

“Spurring retrofits of commercial and multi-family buildings through Building STAR can start to reverse the downward trend in construction and manufacturing by leveraging private-sector investment to create jobs,” said Rich Walker, AAMA president and CEO.

Backers hope to see Building Star included in the upcoming federal jobs legislation.

At least so far, the incentive program would not replace the Energy Star program, or any of its programs that help promote energy efficiency in commercial and industrial settings.

In February, it was announced that the EPA’s Energy Star Leaders prevented the emissions of more than 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and saved more than $48 million across their commercial building portfolios in 2009.

The EPA says these savings have quadrupled since 2008 and is the single greatest year of savings since the program’s launch in 2004.

Among items proposed to be covered by the Building Star incentives are:

- building envelope insulation;

- mechanical insulation;

- windows, window films, and doors;

- low-slope roofing;

- HVAC equipment, water heaters, and boilers;

- duct testing and sealing;

- variable speed motors;

- interior and exterior lighting;

- building energy audits, commissioning, tune-ups, and training; and

- energy management and monitoring systems.

Full Story at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/03/05/push-begins-for-building-star-incentives-for-commercial-properties/

Slow Start For Stimulus-Funded Weatherization Program
Liz Jones
03/08/2010

Full Story and Audio Posted Here: http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=19640

Last year Washington state received nearly $60 million in stimulus funds to weatherize low–income homes. Contractors prepared for more business. And training programs scaled up to teach workers new skills, like how to install insulation or repair leaky windows. But the anticipated windfall of jobs and work has been slow to arrive.

I’m standing outside a split–level home in Seattle’s View Ridge neighborhood. A wide hose spills through a second–story window, down into a van on the street.

Contractor Mark Rector and his crew of two guys are pumping a new coat of insulation into the home’s attic.

Rector’s company, Trius Home Performance, has been doing weatherization work for about seven years. Last year, the company geared up for more work as the state began to spend its share of federal stimulus money for weatherization. Work was rolling along, then:

Rector: “And then suddenly these new rates were imposed on us and we had guys go from $14 per hour to $48 per hour. We had to scale back to smaller crews.”

Reporter: “So when you say you had to scale back, that was some layoffs?”

Rector “Yeah, oh yeah. We laid off about eight people. And we’ll probably bring most of those back in the next few months.”

He says work derailed because of confusion about how much workers should be paid. There a big difference between state and federal rules.

The stimulus funds came with a set of rules that had never been applied to weatherization work here. The feds set hourly pay rates for a new classification of work called weatherization tech. (In King County, that rate is about $19 per hour.)

The snag is Washington state is required to pay the local prevailing wage. But the state doesn’t have a weatherization tech classification to match up to the federal guidelines. So instead of a single rate, there are 14 different rates.

Rector: “There’s sheet metal work, there’s insulation work, there’s drywall taper. We have to put in a roof jack to vent out the fan often times.”

All those jobs might be done by the same worker, but they all require a different pay rate.

Rector: “In some cases, like when we’re installing a fan, like we’re doing in this house, I have to use as many as five different rates. And the total job to put in a fan is only four hours.”

Rector: “We have to add extra administrative help in order to do all the work. It slows the workers down because they have to keep track of every minute of time they’re spending on the job and charging the right rate for what they’re doing.”

A worker up in the attic, named Tui, says his paychecks are pretty unpredictable.

Tui: “Sometimes you get about $400 or $500; sometimes you get $1,000. It all depends on what the job entails and what you’re doing.”

Reporter: “It must make planning a little bit hard.”

Tui: “Yeah it does, especially with rent and kids and everything like that.”

Oregon avoided these wage issues by adopting a single weatherization classification and wage. But some don’t see that as a solution here.

Lee Newgent is with the Seattle–King County Building and Construction Trades Council. He’s worried that a single weatherization classification could open the door to jobs being taken away from specialists, like electricians and plumbers.

Newgent: “In Washington state, we’ve done a lot of work to establish scopes of work. License considerations on electricians. License considerations on plumbing work. And that’s not something that we want to undermine. And the idea that a weatherization person is a do–all, you know a day–labor type mentality, I don’t think that’s the direction we want this market to go into.”

Newgent says about 35 percent of local trade workers are currently unemployed. They’d hope to see some jobs trickle down from the weatherization program, but he says that hasn’t happened.

The wage issues caused several months of delay, as state agencies tried to reconcile state and federal rules. Meanwhile, lots of work was on hold until this year.

David Bangs heads Home Performance Washington. It’s an association of local businesses that do weatherization and energy efficiency work.

He says the inefficient wage system and the early program delays mean the state is now playing catch up to reach its production goals. He’s heard concerns from contractors that the state seems to be going for quantity over quality. Rather than go for the most energy savings, they say the state’s doing a little bit of work on a lot of homes, to get the numbers up.

Bangs: “We’re worried about the fact that there’s less work getting done for the same amount of money. Because the programs are processing a lot more dollars than they used to because of the money coming through the stimulus, but the energy savings aren’t anywhere near as good as they could be if the programs could operate as efficiently as they used to.”

Payne: “Even if we don’t install every single measure, the most cost–effective measures that we will install, will probably achieve 80 percent energy savings.”

That’s Steve Payne, who oversees this program for the state Department of Commerce.

He admits stimulus requirements have forced the state to shift its weatherization approach somewhat. The federal program only allows a certain amount of money for each home. And now, with local wages higher than expected, that money doesn’t go as far as it used to.

Payne: “What that means is that the way we’ve historically worked on this program, it is not going to be practical at all for us to do the measures that we’ve historically done and meet the goals of our stimulus funding.”

With this program, the state’s goal is to weatherize nearly 72,000 homes by June 2011. And numbers do matter. If the work lags, the state could forfeit future stimulus money. But if work moves ahead of schedule, the state stands to gain extra funds.

The most recent numbers show Washington is nearly 30 percent toward its overall goal.

That’s significant progress, given the program nationwide has fallen way below expectations. In mid–February, one year into the stimulus plan, a report from the Department of Energy’s inspector general, called the lack of progress “alarming.” The report showed that collectively, all states plus five territories, were only a little more than 5 percent toward their overall goals.

I’m Liz Jones, KUOW News.

Full Story and Audio Posted Here: http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=19640

By MATTHEW L. WALD and LESLIE KAUFMAN

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s plan to create jobs and rein in energy costs through a steep increase in money for weatherizing the homes of low-income Americans has so far borne little fruit, with many of the biggest states meeting less than 2 percent of their three-year goals to date, the Department of Energy’s inspector general said in a reportTuesday.

The inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, called the lack of progress “alarming.” Far into the nation’s winter heating season, the program for the most part has neither saved energy nor put people to work, Mr. Friedman wrote.

“The job creation impact of what was considered to be one of the department’s most ‘shovel ready’ projects has not materialized,” the report said.

The assessment, issued a year after the weatherization program was created under the fiscal Recovery Act, comes as Congress moves toward passing a second bill to stimulate employment. Republicans and Democrats have been arguing over whether that second bill will add enough jobs in time to help revive the economy.

Responding to the report, Cathy Zoi, the Energy Department’s assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, acknowledged Tuesday that the weatherization program could have gotten off to a faster start but said that it was gaining momentum quickly.

“Since September 2009, we have tripled the pace of Recovery Act-funded home weatherization,” Ms. Zoi said in a statement.

She added that the department was bolstering federal oversight of the program to ensure that the states continued to strengthen their efforts.

Most of the weatherization projects involve improving insulation and replacing leaky windows and doors in the homes of low-income residents.

Under the 2009 Recovery Act, $5 billion was allotted for weatherproofing apartments and houses over three years, up from $450 million in the previous fiscal year. States were authorized to spend up to 50 percent of the money they received by the end of December, the report said.

Yet the report said action was hobbled by bureaucratic delays and by the recession itself, as spending cuts resulting from the economic downturn forced states to trim personnel expenses.

Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/science/earth/24weatherize.html?hpw

By: KIE RELYEA / THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

BELLINGHAM – The city has received a $350,000 federal grant for a project to reduce carbon emissions by reducing energy use.

The money comes from the Environmental Protection Agency through its new Climate Showcase Communities program. Bellingham is among the first cities in the nation to be awarded such a grant – becoming one out of 25 to receive the money from a pool of 450 applicants, according to a city news release.

EPA wants grant money spent on initiatives to help the planet by helping to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to climate change.

The city will use the money to partner with organizations for outreach and education for the Community Energy Challenge project, which is a three-year effort in Whatcom County to increase energy efficiency and reduce utility bills for homeowners and small businesses while creating jobs.

The challenge is collaboration with Sustainable Connections, Opportunity Council, Puget Sound Energy and RE Sources for Sustainable Communities.

The countywide project started this year. It has a number of pieces that include:

- Providing energy audits to 1,800 residences and 150 businesses to reduce use of electricity and natural gas. The goal is for homeowners to cut the amount of energy their homes use by up to 30 percent, and up to 15 percent for businesses.

Read the rest of the article here:http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/03/03/1319018/epa-gives-bellingham-350000-grant.html

LEARN MORE

• Details about the Community Energy Challenge program is available online at communityenergychallenge.org.

• Alex Ramel, energy and policy manager with Sustainable Connections, will talk about the challenge at 7 p.m. March 10 in the upstairs classroom at the RE Store, 2309 Meridian St. in Bellingham. The event is part of the monthly meeting of the Bellingham chapter of Solar Washington.

Reach KIE RELYEA at kie.relyea@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2234.

Home Performance Washington Members,

Our Northwest region has taken a strong lead in the development of cutting-edge sustainability programs. You now have a chance to take one such program and help it gain national recognition at the highest level. Change.org is sponsoring a competition for new ideas that can help address the nation’s challenges, including energy-related concepts. The ideas with the most votes will get a hearing at the White House. Our region’s Energy Performance Score, a “miles-per-gallon” style rating for your home, has made it to the final round.

But in this final round we start from zero votes again.

Please take a minute to vote using this link. http://www.change.org/ideas/view/we_must_change_energy_behavior_-_an_mpg_rating_for_your_home  You may vote for ten ideas, including the EPS. If you voted in the first round, you will need to log in first. If you have not voted you will need to register and then confirm through an email link.

Thanks for your support. Please feel free to forward to friends and colleagues.

Sean Penrith
Executive Director
Earth Advantage Institute

*********
About the Energy Performance Score(EPS)

The EPS is a “miles-per-gallon” rating system for your home that provides an energy consumption score and a score for related carbon emissions. The EPS allows homeowners to compare energy performance of homes in the same way that MPG stickers allow comparison of vehicles. More importantly, the EPS provides a motivation to homeowners to make needed energy improvements that can help increase their own comfort, reduce energy payments, and help reduce carbon emissions.

——————————————————————————–

Earth Advantage Institute
16280 SW Upper Boones Fy Rd.
Portland, Oregon 97224
US
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The Lighting Design Lab just announced its Spring class schedule. For more information and to register, visit:

http://www.lightingdesignlab.com/

The Impact of New Legislation on Lighting
This class will cover energy legislation (EPACT, EISA, DOE IRL & GSFL Lamp Rule,
and other legislation acronyms) as they relate to lighting legislation and codes that
may impact your business, projects or clients. Hear the real answer to “Is the
incandescent really being banned forever?”, “Why am I hearing that the T12
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Effective Use of the Newest Lighting Controls – Beyond the Basics
Whether planning a lighting retrofit or a new design, complying with local energy
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advances in these technologies are making it easier to reach energy usage goals,
but their correct operation is not easy to understand. In this class the student will be
exposed to each, the science behind them, and their practical applications.

Obama pushes home efficiency rebates
By Steve Hargreaves, staff writerMarch 2, 2010: 3:51 PM ET

Story at: http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/02/news/economy/_obama_efficiency/index.htm?cnn=yes&hpt=C2

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — President Obama was stumping once again Tuesday for his plan to reimburse homeowners who invest in energy efficiency and create jobs.

But the president’s plan offered less money than had been previously hoped.

‘It’s going to be politically difficult to get this done,” Obama said at a speech at Savannah Technical College in Georgia. “But it’s the right thing to do.”

The plan, officially known as Home Star, would give rebates of 50% up to $3,000 for energy saving purchases like new appliances, furnaces, or insulation.

Consumers would get the rebate from a store, contractor, or utility.

It would also offer a larger rebate for homeowners who performed a more comprehensive energy audit of their home. Under that plan, homeowners could be reimbursed for up to half the cost of hiring contractors to do things like add insulation, swap out old appliances, and caulk leaky windows and doors.

Rebates depend on a home’s energy savings. Cut energy use by 20% and homeowners could get back half the money they shell out, up to $3,000. Homeowners who cut more than that might get up to $8,000, depending on how much they cut, according to people familiar with the plan.

A typical home energy audit and retrofit costs $5,000 to $8,000, and generally shaves 20%-40% off the monthly energy bills.

Preparing for ‘Cash for Caulkers’

Unlike the Energy Department’s Weatherization program, which is targeted to low-income people and has been criticized for taking too long to get going, this plan would be available to everyone.

The $8,000 rebate is less than the $12,000 proponents originally wanted, and the $6 billion proposed for the program is less than the $10 billion originally hoped for.

Nonetheless, environmentalists praised the idea.

“Even the most basic upgrade puts money in our pockets, puts Americans back to work and puts energy waste on the run,” Lane Burt, manager of Building Energy Policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. “It’s a triple play on a more efficient future.”

The program, dubbed “cash for caulkers” by some, has been touted by the president for months. It even won a mention in his State of the Union Address.

But whether it becomes reality is far from certain.

Congressional Democrats are also behind the idea and have said it is a part of their larger job creation strategy. But it was not included in a recent jobs bill, which focused more on extending current tax breaks rather than enacting new programs.

And it faces likely opposition from lawmakers concerned about rising government spending.

“Democratic leaders in Congress will still need to test the level of support for ‘cash for caulker’ programs relative to other jobs priorities,” Whitney Stanco, an energy policy analyst at the brokerage firm Concept Capital, said in an e-mail.

The plan could appear in another jobs bill, or in separate energy legislation expected later this year.

From: Efficiency First

In widely cited article published by the Wall Street Journal this month, reporter Stephanie Simon painted a bleak picture of energy efficiency retrofit initiatives undertaken by the city of Boulder, Colo., which has offered free energy audits to homes and businesses but has seen disappointing follow-through in terms of efficiency upgrades. “Boulder has found that financial incentives and an intense publicity campaign aren’t enough to spur most homeowners to action,” Simon wrote, “even in a city so environmentally conscious that the college football stadium won’t sell potato chips because the packaging isn’t recyclable.”

Various pundits and bloggers have singled out Simon’s article as an indictment of public incentives for basic efficiency measures, but Efficiency First views Boulder’s well-meaning efforts in a very different light. In fact, the article makes a good case for a different kind of incentive program along the lines of the HOME STAR initiative now under consideration on Capitol Hill. What we need is a market-driven solution focused on solving real problems, and Boulder’s audit program failed to create the kind of market environment that will allow our industry to grow.

While energy audits are a good way to identify sources of household energy waste, there is ample evidence that programs focused on incentivizing audits don’t lead to widespread adoption of energy retrofit measures. Only the most motivated homeowners are likely to follow through when given general recommendations and left to track down a contractor on their own. Simon’s reporting found that existing incentives available to Boulder residents are not sufficient to drive strong demand for energy retrofit measures – and this is precisely the problem HOME STAR was conceived to address.

HOME STAR is modeled after market-based programs that have a history of success. One strong example is New York State’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program. In 2009, New York’s whole-house retrofit market grew by 22 percent, even while the rest of construction industry plummeted. This program significantly amplified public investment in market transformation, with over $228 million of private homeowner capitol. The program solves real problems by linking energy audits to cost-effective renovation plans that deliver significant long-term energy savings.

HOME STAR promises to jumpstart a new American industry that can begin to put our failing construction industry back to work. While the economy as a whole is beginning to show signs of recovery, with unemployment falling to 9.7 percent, construction unemployment has gotten worse. In January, unemployment among construction workers climbed to 24.7 percent, which means one in four American construction workers are without a job..

HOME STAR will help to quickly retool our construction and manufacturing industries by creating a viable market for home retrofit services – a market that will stand on its own as incentives are phased out. And because more than 90 percent of the materials commonly used in energy retrofits are made in America, jump-starting the energy retrofit market also will provide a much-needed boost to the domestic building-materials manufacturing sector (insulation manufacturers, for example, are currently working at only 40 percent of capacity).

Retrofitting America’s 100+ million existing homes is a win for the economy, a win for the environment, and a win for American families.

Read “Even Boulder Finds It Isn’t Easy Going Green” here:
www.online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704320104575015920992845334.html

How smart is the grid?
Learn about the role of the grid in providing energy, how smart the grid is today and what the future holds. Puget Sound Energy will explain smart grid, how the grid might affect your energy use and PSE’s future smart grid plans.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 6 – 8 p.m.
A community’s use of resources affects the environment. Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of harnessing energy from different types of resources and how you can make a difference.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010, 6 – 8 p.m.
Representatives from the Human Resources Department at Puget Sound Energy will define and provide information on “green” careers in the utility industry. PSE employees will provide an overview of their roles and responsibilities in the company.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 6 – 8 p.m.
Learn how Puget Sound Energy is working with Kitsap County to leverage Federal Stimulus funds with existing utility programs. County and PSE representatives will share what they are doing to implement energy efficiency in your community.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 6 – 8 p.m.

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Prepare for the USGBC Building Design & Construction specialization exam in this one-day course. In partnership with O’Brien & Company. Saturday, 5/8, 8 – 4:30 p.m., $379 REGISTER TODAY!

Building Energy Analyst Training
Prepares students for BPI and HERS national certification exams. Sign-up for our mailing list to receive information about this program as it becomes available. E-mail ContinuingEd@olympic.edu.

Weatherization Online Weatherization
Learn to become compliant with the BPI Energy Analyst Standards. Online, $850 REGISTER TODAY!

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Prepare for the national certified sustainable building advisor exam through this 9-month course. In partnership with O’Brien & Company. Sign-up for our mailing list to receive information about this program as it becomes available. E-mail: ContinuingEd@olympic.edu.

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www.olympic.edu/ContinuingEducation

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE (AP)

WASHINGTON — Consumers would collect on-the-spot rebates of $1,000 or more for buying insulation, water heaters or other equipment to make their homes burn energy more efficiently under a rebate program President Barack Obama is promoting.

Obama was traveling to Savannah, Ga., on Tuesday to outline the Home Star program. Obama called for energy rebates in his State of the Union address, and officials hope the plan will be as popular as last year’s Cash for Clunkers money-back program for autos.

“We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities — and give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient, which support clean energy jobs,” Obama said in January.

He has said shifting the U.S. toward cleaner, renewable sources of energy and making homes — particularly older houses — more energy-efficient will help accomplish three goals: reducing America’s dependence on foreign energy sources, creating much-needed jobs and saving consumers money on their utility bills.

Read the rest here:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hieVJy4y8Kdn-x4oMc1FKBxb8HkgD9E6FPEG1
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.