Legislation Introduced in Senate to Extend Energy Efficiency Tax Incentives and Create Incentives

The $2,000 tax credit for energy efficient homes will expire on January 1, 2010 unless extended by Congress . Bi-partisan legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to extend the $2,000 credit to December 31, 2012 and create a $5,000 credit for homes that use 50% less whole house energy than the 2004 IECC (50 HERS Index). The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). In addition, the legislation: Creates a $200 tax credit for the cost of a home energy rating Creates a $500 tax credit for the cost of training and certifying home performance auditors to conduct home energy ratings
Increases the amount of the tax incentive for commercial buildings to $3.00 per square foot Click on http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s1637is.txt.pdf to download the legislation. It is critical that your voice is heard in Washington. Contact your state's Senators and urge to support legislation to extend the tax credit for energy efficient homes.

Sustainable Buildings & Construction Initiative

To ensure that the building sector is adequately covered in the successor treaty, the United Nations has formed the Sustainable Buildings & Construction Initiative (UNEP SBCI) that will make recommendations to the UNEP and the national leaders that will be negotiating the new climate change treaty. RESNET is a member of the UNEP SBCI. Other organizations representing the U.S. on the panel are Natural Resources Defense Council and the US Green Building Council. The SBCI has issued a call for action for the industry to support efforts to include building energy performance in the international climate treaty. RESNET supports the call for action and urges the U.S. negotiating team to the climate talks to adopt the principals contained in the call. The SBCI has produced a PDF version of the call to action on buildings and climate change that is posted at http://www.resnet.us/UNEP-SBCI-Call_to_Action.pdf The RESNET network is urged to download the call for action and share it with their partners, peers and allies.

Associated Press Story

In a reflection of the growing interest in energy efficient mortgages the Associated Press released a feature story on the mortgage feature. The story was published on the front page of the Miami Herald's Business Section on Sunday. The story can be downloaded at http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1229689.html

RESNET Message on Energy Labeling and Energy Billing Analysis

Discussions of building labels worldwide have pointed out the difference between “asset value” labels, which are based on how a building performs at standard operating conditions and “operational value” labels, which are based on measurements of energy consumption using the operating conditions that are in use at a particular time. Most products, such as cars or appliances, are rated using asset value labels with a standardized operational component—for example, cars are rating by EPA miles per gallon (mpg) but are not resold based on the mpg that the seller actually obtained. But for buildings, analysts generally recognize that both results are useful. These two types of labels are very distinct and different ways of characterizing energy use, with different purposes. There have been much discussion and some misinformation on this subject. RESNET has posted a message on this critical issue at http://www.resnet.us/hotnews/2009-09-04-EnergyLabeling_and_EnergyBillingAnalysis.pdf