"President-elect Obama is going beyond just pouring concrete. Investments in energy efficiency, modern schools and information technology offer hope for longer-term prosperity... [Obama] appears to grasp the national desire to act in ways that make the country stronger for the long run." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's not a coincidence that "energy-efficiency" lands in the same sentence as long term prosperity. The two are inextricably linked on a global, national, and intensely local level, a fact the President-Elect has recognized for some time. A national energy-efficiency plan was a central plank of his campaign platform, and it is now a staple of his economic stimulus plan to make federal buildings more energy efficient. Yeehaw! Woohoo! And please don't stop with federal buildings. Let's bring that ROI thinking home.
In the scheme of available options for fixing our energy dependence and global warming problems, there is no sector where dollars invested produces more impact than in residential energy. In biz speak, residential energy efficiency has the highest return on investment. This comes from no less an authority than the McKinsey Global Institute. Their report, The Case for Investing in Energy Productivity, states that the most cost-effective investments available to improve US energy productivity are in residential lighting, heating & cooling, water heating and appliance efficiency. The opportunity in these highest ROI areas (defined as 10% IRR or better), according to McKinsey, is equivalent to 33% of estimated US energy demand in 2020. In the US, McKinsey estimates these high return investment opportunities at $17.6 billion.
But here's the problem. There are 128 million housing units in the US (according to the Census Bureau). While some are similar to each other (so when you fix something you can easily replicate it) many are not similar at all. Each is its own funky ecosystem of air leakage, insulation, moisture, and energy. Yet there is massive opportunity for energy efficiency (and money saving) in virtually every house, regardless of whether it's an 1820 federal outside of Boston or a 2 year old ranch in a subdivision in Scottsdale.
Our collective mission is to empower from within the house--to take the inefficiency out of residential energy efficiency, and make that return on investment available to as many people as humanly possible. Having a leader who recognizes the importance of giving our check books and our planet a break helps put that goal within reach.
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