Jan 29 2009
The U.S. Green Building Council was on hand today to lend its strong support to President Barack Obama's call for swift and decisive action on the economic recovery package that has been sent to Congress
USGBC President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi was among several prominent corporate executives invited to the White House today for a briefing with Administration advisors. President Obama then delivered a short speech in the East Room urging support of the stimulus package. Top executives from Google, IBM, Honeywell, Edison Electric Institute, Time Warner and others were in attendance.
"The green building-related initiatives laid out in President Obama's economic recovery package will help put thousands of Americans back to work in the immediate term, creating as many as two million green jobs in the next five years," said Fedrizzi. "We're talking about jobs that will help us implement on a vast scale simple changes that will show up immediately in the energy bills and water usage of every business and family."
Fedrizzi continued, "Green school construction and renovation is part of this package; this sector alone represents a potential $20 billion in energy savings over the next 10 years. Greening and retrofitting of our public housing facilities is another target that will not only improve health conditions and increase energy and water efficiency, but generate savings to low-income families for whom lower utility bills can mean extra meals on the table.
"Greening our federal buildings offers another tremendous opportunity to demonstrate leadership by example using energy efficient and water efficient technologies to save billions in taxpayer dollars and at the same time create green jobs," he said.
"The return on this investment in America stands to be unprecedented, not only for its immediate return but for the trajectory it sets for a new low-carbon economy that is surely our best future."