PA businesses, local officials highlight their energy efficiency
success stories
Philadelphia, PA - A new report finds that Pennsylvania households
would save an average of $269 per year and 27,200 jobs would be created
in the state over the next ten years if Congress passes an energy and
climate bill with strengthened energy efficiency provisions. The
report, entitled Energy
Efficiency in the American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009:
Impacts of Current Provisions and Opportunities to Enhance the
Legislation, was released by PennEnvironment and written by the
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
“Pennsylvanians know that energy efficiency is the cleanest, quickest
and cheapest way to reduce our energy use and pollution,” said Nathan
Willcox, Energy & Clean Air Advocate for PennEnvironment. “These
common sense solutions will put cash back in our pockets and help
protect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the future of the
planet.”
The new report first calculated the economic and environmental benefits
of energy efficiency provisions currently within the American Clean
Energy & Security Act of 2009 (ACES), which passed the U.S. House
of Representatives in June and is being considered by the Senate. The
report found that these energy efficiency provisions would create
17,600 new Pennsylvania jobs, save the average household $236 a year,
and reduce annual carbon emissions by 15.7 million metric tons in
Pennsylvania by 2020.
The report then calculated the benefits of even stronger energy
efficiency provisions, and found that these stronger provisions would
prevent 23 million metric tons of global warming emissions—the
equivalent of removing the pollution from 4.18 million cars from the
road for a year—in addition to the higher jobs and economic benefits
listed above.
PennEnvironment was joined by Onion Flats LLC, e3bank, the Delaware
Green Building Council, West Penn Energy Solutions, CJL Engineering,
the Lehigh Valley Green Building Council, Pittsburgh City Councilman
William Peduto, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Lehigh County
Executive Don Cunningham, Lehigh County Commissioner Bill Leiner and
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski in releasing the report at events in
Allentown, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
“Thin Flats is a huge accomplishment for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
and the United States as a whole,” said Johnny McDonald of Onion
Flats. Onion Flats developed Thin Flats, a housing development in
Northern Liberties that was designed to reduce overall energy use by 50
percent, and which was the nation’s first LEED-Homes Platinum Certified
Duplex. “Thin Flats is a line in the sand for future developments,
showing that we can build better homes and sell them for the same price
as non-sustainable homes. That was our experiment, and it has proved a
success,” continued McDonald.
“Legislation like ACES will energize green building efforts and help
stimulate the shift to sustainable business practices,” said Bill
DeFalco, Chief Lending Officer with e3bank. Based in Malvern, e3bank
will provide the critical financing that helps make energy efficiency
projects a reality. “Many Delaware Valley businesses, such as e3bank,
are positioned to provide private sector solutions that capitalize on
these public sector initiatives in helping businesses and consumers
reduce their environmental footprints while improving their bottom
lines,” continued DeFalco.
“Those involved in the increasingly strong green building movement have
known for a long time that a move toward high-performance buildings
spurs the local economy,” said Heather Shayne Blakeslee, Programs &
Advocacy Director with the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.
“Demand for more energy efficient buildings means not only jobs in
green design and retrofits to existing building stock, but demand for
local manufacturers who will make windows and doors, insulation, and a
host of other products that mean more jobs in Pennsylvania.”
“There has never been a more cost effective time for homeowners and
business owners to make energy efficient retrofits,” said Michael
Merck, President of West Penn Energy Solutions. “Not only will these
energy efficient retrofits save you money, they will also have a direct
positive impact on our environment. “
”As a country, our demand for power will continue to grow, as our
population grows, and as our society's reliance on technology for
business, healthcare, education, and recreation continues to increase,”
said Alan Traugott with CJL Engineering. “Energy is a resource that is
vital to our quality of life and economic security. Improved energy
efficiency and reduced energy usage are basic management tools in what
must be a long-term, comprehensive energy plan.”
“It’s
time to harness the power of Pennsylvanians ingenuity to put thousands of
people back to work and save businesses and consumers money on their energy
bills every year in the Lehigh Valley” said Mayor Pawlowski. “Allentown is
already leading the way by making energy efficiency a key part of our economic
recovery. We look forward to action in Washington to enhance this
economic opportunity when we need it most.”
“The building industry has the capability and the technology to ensure
our current and future buildings are very energy efficient,” said
Christa Kraftician, an AIA LEED AP, registered architect at Spillman
Farmer Architects and member of the Lehigh Valley Green Building
Council. “Energy efficiency saves businesses money and this is a great
opportunity to encourage and support these efforts nationwide.”
“Energy efficiency improvements give us the chance to jumpstart a slow
economy by putting people to working doing retrofits and upgrades and
putting money back in the pockets of homeowners and businesses through
smaller energy bills,” said Pittsburgh City Councilman William
Peduto. “We can reap these benefits while creating a cleaner
environment. This ACEEE study quantifies the benefits for Pennsylvania
and how much we have to gain with the support of our United States
Senators.”
"Creating green jobs is the right thing to do for the economy and
environment," said Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham.
"Pennsylvania has always had strong labor traditions and a deep
devotion to land conservation. Now these forces are coming together in
ways that will lead the Commonwealth to a cleaner, safer and more
economically secure future for our working families."
PennEnvironment called for policy improvements which would generate
more than 569,000 clean energy jobs nationally and save the average
American household $283 per year by 2020. These policy improvements
would result in 48 percent more jobs and 32 percent more consumer
savings than the efficiency measures in the House-passed ACES bill. In
addition these improvements would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by
480 million metric tons in 2020, equivalent to taking over 80 million
cars off the road for a year.
PennEnvironment urged Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey to maximize
economic benefits to consumers by:
- Supporting a strengthened Energy
Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) requiring utility companies to
reduce their energy usage by at least 10 percent by providing
incentives and assistance to help customers make their homes and
businesses more energy-efficient (the ACES bill included a 5% EERS with
an optional 3% increase).
- Modeling electric utility allocation
on that of the natural gas utility allocation in the ACES bill, by
requiring that one-third be used for energy efficiency improvements.
- Extending the allocation of carbon
allowance revenue to the State Energy and Environmental Development
(SEED) provision.
“While the House bill is a critical first step in harnessing the power
of energy efficiency, this report shows we can save even more money,
create more jobs and reduce more pollution,” said Willcox. “Senators
Specter and Casey should lead the fight for common sense energy
efficiency policies and jumpstart the transition to a clean energy
economy.”
