Serious Materials Supports Recovery Act Energy Efficiency Requirements
March 24, 2009

Serious Materials announced last week that it fully supports the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act energy efficiency provisions as enacted.

Some manufacturers have issued statements against the Recovery Act's enhanced efficiency requirements, with the aim of being able to continue passing off old technology as "energy saving," while saving relatively little energy and wasting tax-payer dollars, says the statement. In addition, two industry associations (WDMA and AAMA) have created form letters to send to congress asking them to remove the energy-saving requirements currently in the Recovery Act.

"It is unfortunate that already we see some old-line companies asking Congress to unravel important energy saving requirements," says Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials. "The strong energy efficiency provisions in the Recovery Act should be left alone, and we applaud congress for taking bold steps to create jobs, save energy, and spend our tax dollars wisely. We encourage Congress to stand firm on those ideals. It is solid legislation like this that will help recover our economy quickly."

"The Recovery Act's higher performance standards require manufacturers to lift their game in order to benefit from taxpayer funds, but can be readily achieved using existing technology," adds Robin Roy, vice president, policy, Serious Materials. "We are already opening plants to meet the Recovery Act demand and hiring what may be hundreds of workers this year. This will deliver near-term benefits for jobs and the economy, and as importantly, deliver longer-term benefits for energy security, the environment, and consumers. The higher standards also encourage American innovation, by clearly rewarding better-performing products. This hinges on continued support for raising the bar on energy saving windows. Unraveling the higher standards in the Recovery Act would result in taxpayer dollars being wasted on unnecessarily inefficient products, and discourage innovation."

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