Existing Building Maintenance and Retrofits Are Key to National Energy Savings

With the stalling state of the economy appearing in and out of the headlines in 2011,  there continues to be a growing emphasis on building cost-savings and efficiency measures . For example, earlier this year President Obama pushed the importance of commercial building energy efficiency and setting specific new targets with his “Better Buildings Initiative.” The program’s goal is to increase the energy efficiency of America’s commercial buildings by 20 percent by the year 2020. The methods include a combination of tax incentives for building retrofits, new loans to finance the retrofits, a competitive grant program for state and municipal governments, a “better buildings challenge” for corporate building owners, and a “construction technology partnership” to help prepare construction companies and workers to complete all of these retrofitting projects.

Did you notice a running theme among those items?  It’s the importance of maximizing the energy efficiency of existing buildings. This represents what’s by far the greatest opportunity for energy savings. That’s why we have LEED-EB (LEED for Existing Buildings) and other, similar programs that focus our attention on this gold mine of opportunities.

Retrofit Video:

Think back to when we blogged about an extensive retrofit project for the Empire State Building. Well, here’s a great video that shares some of the project’s insider details:

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Goodway Presents: Watered Down Energy Tax Credits Extended in 2011

Goodway is pleased to present energy-related information and research to help keep you current.  

For those of you who were considering taking advantage of the home energy/energy-efficiency tax credits that were available during the last couple of years, we have both good news and bad news. The good news is that they are still around. The bad news is that they aren’t worth as much as they used to be.

Originally slated to disappear at the end of 2010, they have been given new life as part President Obama’s recent deal with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts in exchange for added unemployment benefits.

Want to Save 10% on
Your Next HVAC Purchase?

Click to activate a 10% coupon or insert the coupon code 10PERCENT upon checkout.