Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) unveiled a new piece of legislation regarding the retrofitting of buildings to increase energy efficiency, which was targeted directly at the middle class. The crux of the bill involves the use of progressive financial incentives to encourage homeowners and small business owners to make their property more energy efficient. The national government would give $10 billion over four years so that the state can decide the type of program that they would like to implement. Mr. Welch found inspiration from a similar plan implemented in his home state of Vermont, and he cited an example where a small family was able to save $1300 merely from retrofitting their home. Asserting that this plan would be another form of stimulus, Mr. Welch stated that families would have more money to spend due to a decrease in energy charges. Additionally, the bill would help increase workers in the construction industry because they would be needed to install materials, such as solar panels.

Several individuals who the bill directly affects spoke after Mr. Welch. Jeff Presswood, an analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, commended Mr. Welch for having the foresight to create such legislation because the world is approaching a “point of no return” in regards to the detrimental affect of global warming. Also, Mr. Presswood stressed how such a plan would put money back into the local economy, as the construction jobs could not be sent abroad.

After Mr. Presswood spoke, Michelle Moore of the United States Green Building Council discussed how the legislation would create 2 million jobs in the construction industry. Ms. Moore praised Mr. Welch on creating a bill that did not merely deal with energy efficiency, but also with other natural resources, like water conservation. Additionally, she stated that it is “easier to put granite countertops in one’s house than to retrofit the entire house to become more energy efficient.”

Several other congresspersons spoke in support of Mr. Welch’s bill and other energy efficient legislation that the House of Representatives is crafting. For instance, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) remarked that such legislation is not about partisan politics, but about a greater issue confronting the nation--global warming and energy independence. Mr. Van Hollen described how such retrofits would cost nothing in the long-run, as the individual can pay back the cost through the profits they make from becoming energy efficient. This only proved Mr. Welch’s closing statement that “We all want to save the planet, but no one wants to go broke doing it.”