White House announces job-generating energy-efficiency plan that needs no okay from Congress

[kpete]

Source: Daily Kos

FRI DEC 02, 2011 AT 12:18 PM PST
White House announces job-generating energy-efficiency plan that needs no okay from Congress
byMeteor BladesFollow

It would have been delightful to have heard more of this "We Can't Wait for Congress" jobs campaign from President Obama about two years ago. But better late than never. The latest iteration is Friday's announcement of a $4 billion initiative to upgrade energy efficiency in public and private buildings, saving an estimated $40 billion annually and generating tens of thousands of jobs. And it won't cost taxpayers a dime. Happily, the plan can be accomplished without seeking impossible-to-get approval from that retrograde cabal of Congress which seems to believe any energy not extracted from hydrocarbons is Satan-spawned.

The concept is simple enough, one that was proposed as far back as the Carter administration: If you don't consume a unit of energy in the first place, you don't have to produce that energy. If you don't consume it, you don't have to pay for it. If you don't have to pay for it, you can spend the money on something else. The cheapest energy of all is energy you don't have to generate in the first place. And if the source of that unconsumed, unpurchased energy is, say, coal, you get the added benefit of not adding more CO2 to our already overburdened atmosphere. Win-win-win. It's so smart that backing has even come from the right-wing Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed almost every environmental initiative since Rachel Carson published her first book half a century ago.

The program announced today is part of the Better Buildings Initiative rolled out last February. BBI's goal is to leverage federal and private money to reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings by 20 percent by 2020. Several BBI projects are already under way. Obama added to those today by pledging to make $2 billion available for upgrades to federal buildings. Through the efforts of former President Bill Clinton, CEOs, mayors, university presidents and labor leaders also pledged to generate 2 billion additional dollars in private capital to retrofit "1.6 billion square feet of office, industrial, municipal, hospital, university, community college and school buildings."

To achieve the business-friendly, taxpayer-friendly, environment-friendly outcome of the program, upfront money has to be invested. That translates into jobs. So, actually, it's a win-win-win-win.

Read more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/02/1041791/-White-House-announces-job-generating-energy-efficiency-plan-that-needs-no-okay-from-Congress?via=siderec

---

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/bbi_factsheet_final_clean_12-1-2011.pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/02/we-cant-wait-president-obama-announces-nearly-4-billion-investment-energ

The $4 billion investment announced today includes a $2 billion commitment, made through the issuance of a Presidential Memorandum, to energy upgrades of federal buildings using long term energy savings to pay for up-front costs, at no cost to taxpayers.
http://www.grist.org/list#item-2011-12-02-white-house-to-make-4-billion-out-of-0-using-energy-efficiency

[midnight]

1. It makes not owning a McMansion a smart thing...

[freshwest]

2. Sanity Restored... Thanks.

[Arctic Dave]

3. A threefer. I'm down with that.

Credit were credit is due. Jazz hands.

[malthaussen]

4. It definitely sounds like a good idea

... but I don't see how it doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime. Sez right in the penultimate paragraph that $2 billion is being put into the pot. And the last, bolded paragraph suggests as much as $4 billion total may be spent.

Well, billions aren't dimes.

-- Mal

[usrname]

8. Because these will be government buildings

that will be retrofitted and upgraded. After the upgrade, these buildings will spend less on energy, thus the $2 billion upfront will be balanced by more than $2 billion over the lifetime of the building, even when discounting for future value to the present.

[SpiralHawk]

5. An end run on the RAA (Republicons Against America)

If they had the chance to screw Americans on this, the Republicons would be all over it. Good on Obama for rendering the Republicons impotent.

[DCBob]

6. I wish the administration would find more ways to shuffle money around to pay for jobs programs..

without requiring Congress approval.

[zalinda]

7. He wasn't running for President 2 years ago

He already had the job. It's funny how he can go around the repubs, right before the election season. hmmmmmm

zalinda

[lunatica]

15. So you think he should have known Republicans would be against everything

two years ago? But maybe you knew. That makes you much smarter I guess.

[zalinda]

16. If he is as smart as you say he is, he should have known.

I certainly would have studied the past Presidencies to see what happened so I could plan strategy. Clinton had a hell of a time getting any thing through, and the repubs weren't quite so crazy then. I mean, come on, you'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see what would happen. And, if it took him two years of his Presidency to notice, he really isn't very observant.

zalinda

[boppers]

17. "rolled out last February."

This is part of something that was started long before election season. In a bid to make the story seem relevant, it's being contextualized within election season, but the BBI is old news. This is more PR than anything else.

[MineralMan]

9. Thank you, Mr. President!

Another success that will create more opportunities for some to dig even deeper for stuff to accuse you of. Please keep it up. You'll win!

[progressoid]

10. Mr. President, please do this about 1000 more times.

Its a start. But we need a lot more of this. A LOT.

[Hotler]

11. k&r n/t

[Scurrilous]

12. K & R

:thumbsup:

[demicritic]

13. Magnifico

Can we have more of this not just in the US? Always nice to hear this type of good news.

[lonestarnot]

14. Exquisite!