The proposal is one of several that would help cut U.S. energy consumption while creating jobs in industries that make and install energy-efficient products such as insulation, Vice President Joe Biden said today in an event to unveil the plan.
Retrofitting homes with insulation and weather-proofing doors can save “at a minimum, between 300 and 1,200 bucks a year,” Biden said. “You get pay-back real quick on these investments.”
Biden said the proposal builds on provisions of the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress earlier. As part of the stimulus, the Energy Department was given $7.6 billion to dole out to states to weatherproof homes and other energy efficiency efforts. The administration, which has been promoting the legislation’s impact on employment, said the provision meets the twin goals of boosting jobs in so-called green industries and helping the U.S. cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Each year, Americans spend $1,500 to $3,000 to heat and air condition their homes, Biden said. Paying for improvements on property tax bills would let homeowners spread the cost of the investment over time.
In addition, the new initiative, dubbed Recovery Through Retrofit, would provide wider access to reliable information about increasing the energy efficiency, set national standards for training of workers to perform such jobs and create a certification process identifying energy-efficient homes.
Retrofitting the nation’s 130 million homes for energy efficiency would cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much 20 percent, the equivalent of taking 30 million cars off the road, Biden said. Savings on energy bills would amount to $21 billion annually, he said.
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