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Clean Energy Jobs Go Home: $30 Billion to put 4.5 Million to Work

This is part of a series of brief posts on ‘clean energy jobs‘ opportunities for sparking meaningful employment, quickly, in the United States as discussed in Clean Energy Jobs: Stimulate Me.

Investing in building energy efficiency is one of the most effective ways to create job and revitalize the economy while achieving other objectives.  Ed Mazria and Architecture 2030 have been a fount of good ideas as to how to spark employment and boost economic performance while reducing polluting energy habits and kick-starting the nation toward a prosperous low-pollution future. These have truly been win-win-win concepts.

As the nation looks to serious government action to seek to spark employment, the latest proposal from Mazria / Architecture 2030 should be on the top of the pile for consideration.  This “One-Year, 4.5 Million Jobs Investment Program” would:

• Invest $30 billion per year in mortgage interest buydown
  • To help fund home improvements in energy efficiency and renewable energy
  • Amount of interest rate buydown based on exceeding energy efficiency standards
• Spark $280 billion in private investment and spending each year
  • Interest rate rate buydown requirements spending on improving home energy
• Save home and building owners money
  • Reduced energy costs
  • Reduced monthly mortgage payments (even accounting for investment costs)
  • Reducing likelihood of foreclosure (energy efficient homes have lower foreclosure rates due to lower utility bills)
• Reduce US greenhouse gas emissions
  • Built infrastructure is responsible for about 40% of US emissions
  • Energy efficiency in buildings is fastest payoff for reducing energy use / emissions
• More than pay for itself
  • Return approximately $60 billion to federal government due to tax revenue
  • Reduce unemployment & other required government assistance
• Create 4.5 million jobs
  • Spread throughout the United States, in all communities
  • At all educational and skill levels (from day laborers to master electricians to the mortgage industry to architects / engineers / scientists)
  • Among some of the hardest hit sectors of the work force (construction industry)

This multiple win approach, to achieve rapid and significant job growth while moving forward in other arenas, should be on the top of the pile as Congress develops a jobs bill in the coming month.

Clean Energy Jobs Go Home: $30 Billion to put 4.5 Million to Work

NOTE:

On this proposal, see David Roberts, Grist, How Obama could use his jobs speech to win both domestically and internationally.

This $30 billion proposal might be useful to compare to the $23 billion or so being proposed for Cash for Caulkers.

Some other GESN discussions of Architecture 2030 proposals, see:

• Architecture 2030 plan to revitalize the economy
• A W4 Solution: Insulate US from economic and climate devastation
• Massively efficient way to stimulate the US economy
• Win to the Sixth Power

Clean Energy Jobs series posts:

• Clean Energy Jobs Go Swimming
• Clean Energy Jobs Fill Labs
• Clean Energy Jobs Go To The Cleaners
• Clean Energy Jobs Blow In (not Blow Up) Coal River Mountain
• Clean Energy Takes the PHE School Bus
• Clean Energy Jobs Go to the Market
• Clean Energy Jobs Go to School
• Tips for the Job Summit: Can we say Clean Energy Jobs?
• Clean Energy Jobs: Stimulate Me