The successful vote opens the way for the bill, officially known as the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010, to move onto the Senate.
The legislation would provide two routes for homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes: a ‘silver star’ path providing incentives of $250-1500 up to a maximum of $3000 per household for specific energy saving measures and a ‘gold star’ path offering $3000-5000 per home for comprehensive makeover packages.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) estimates that the bill could create 160,000 jobs in the construction and related energy efficiency industries, which have been hard hit in the recession, and save consumers over $1 billion a year on energy costs.
“Home Star is a common sense approach to address our country’s overall energy usage, create American jobs and create a healthier environment for our families,” says president of the Alliance to Save Energy, Kateri Callahan.
“While the average US household could save up to 20% on its home energy bills with energy efficiency upgrades, in today’s economy many have not had the financial wherewithal to do so,” she adds.
The bill has garnered support from a coalition of over 1300 small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as larger companies including The Dow Chemical Company and Owens Corning.
“HOME STAR is a win-win-win: it will put our nation's skilled construction force back to work, benefit homeowners through comfort and energy efficient improvements to their existing homes, and result in long-term energy and environmental gains,” says Larry Laseter, president of coalition member WellHome.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee is supporting the adoption of minimum efficiency standards for a range of products including air conditioners, furnaces and heat pumps, street lights, drinking water dispensers and hot tubs. |
