Buildings that save energy could also create jobs

A US-wide plan to make buildings more energy efficient could create more than 114,000 new jobs, many of them in the currently hard-hit construction industry, a new analysis has found.

The study by The Real Estate Roundtable, the US Green Building Council, and the Natural Resources Defense Council looked at the Better Buildings Initiative, a White House plan to make existing commercial and multifamily buildings more energy efficient. Announced by President Barack Obama in February, the initiative combines financial and other incentives to improve energy efficiency in the nation’s buildings stock.

The biggest job driver in the Better Buildings Initiative, which accounts for more than 77,000 of the new jobs, is a redesigned tax deduction for energy efficiency upgrades of buildings. The joint analysis also shows how the initiative would have a ripple effect throughout the economy to generate more manufacturing, production, and service jobs — and demonstrates how public funds can leverage significant private investments to expand the benefits to the economy.

“Unemployment in the construction sector continues to hover above 16 percent,” said Jeffrey D. DeBoer, The Roundtable’s CEO and president. “Lending is still difficult to come by in many markets, so financial incentives like these proposed by the White House will leverage private investment to help propel our cities and suburbs forward into a new energy economy.”

“This program will also lower energy consumption, reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and allow America to retain its competitive edge in the international marketplace as a leader in constructing, retrofitting and operating high-performing buildings,” added Roger Platt, senior vice president of global policy and law with the US Green Building Council.