Sustain Word

Today- one of our associates agrees that 2009 is going to be a great year for us all that are doing the right thing.   What is the “right thing?”  Going green of course.

Here is what Tim Uzar, a senior project manager and our geothermal designer,  is seeing from the new green economy.  If you are in the construction industry take some good notes.  Green is not just green anymore there are many words that define green.

“Construction or Green Building Industry should pay attention to the details of the final stimulus package and its impact.

The new “buzz word” for 2009, is predicted to be more focused on “Energy Efficiency”, “Retrofits,” and “Existing Buildings.” No longer just “Green” as in 2008. But why the change?

As according to the GBLU, or Green Building Law Update, there are three factors that will contribute to the popularity of retrofitting existing buildings to improve energy efficiency.

1)President Obama - With his push for a large stimulus package aimed at, in part, improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings and homes. His plan will be to “modernize 75 percent of federal buildings and improve energy efficiency in 2 million homes saving consumers billions of dollars on energy bills.”

2) Everyone has heard the news of the apparent warnings of construction slowdown, right? The lull is due, in part, to tighten lending options, but we also know that tenants are now wanting demand for green buildings. Resulting in that building owners will now look to “retrofit” their existing buildings to offer more green building options.

3) Finally, climate legislation in the form of cap and trade is coming. Early investments now to reduce energy use through retrofits will pay off for big businesses.

Going back to Obama’s proposed plan, in a nutshell here is a good summary of their comprehensive energy efficiency initiative to be included in the proposed stimulus plan.

The proposal put together would invest approximately $33 billion for greater energy efficiency. . .One of their primary recommendations is to make grants available to states and local governments giving them a huge incentive to increase efficiency. Under this program, states would provide funding under the grants program to entities such as utilities, cooperatives, energy service companies and school districts. The grants for this would fall into the categories of : home energy efficiency retrofits, retrofits of public buildings, commercial building efficiency retrofits and efficiency programs matching fund.

The impacts of the green building and construction industry would be enormous. In a few short years we could see huge government investments in green building strategies to improve energy efficiency while adopting building codes which will force private projects to include new green building techniques and technologies.”

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