Vice President Biden unveiled a new plan in October, deemed, Recovery Through Retrofit, with the goal of making American homes and buildings more energy efficient. According to the plan, the program builds on investments made in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to expand the home energy efficiency and retrofit market. Home retrofits can potentially help people earn money, as home retrofit workers, while also helping them save money, by lowering their utility bills. By encouraging nationwide weatherization of homes, workers of all skill levels will be trained, engaged, and will participate in ramping up a national home retrofit market.Existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting can reduce home energy use by up to 40 percent per home and lower associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 160 million metric tons annually by the year 2020. Home energy efficiency retrofits have the potential to reduce home energy bills by $21 billion annually, paying for themselves over time, according to the report.

By implementing Recovery Through Retrofit’s recommendations, the Federal Government will lay the groundwork for a self-sustaining home energy efficiency retrofit industry, according to the report, which provides a roadmap of how the Federal Government can use existing authorities and funds to unlock private capital and mobilize communities.

The recommendations and actions in the Report have been designed by 11 Departments and Agencies and six White House Offices to ensure that the energy efficiency market will thrive long after the Recovery Act money is spent.
Following are a few key areas of the plan:

Develop an Energy Performance Label for Homes
“We propose to do for homes what ENERGY STAR® has done for appliances, helping consumers identify energy-efficient products,” according to the report.
New homes can already earn the ENERGY STAR® label – but no such label is available for existing homes. The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are working together to develop an energy performance label for these homes. The end result will be an easily recognizable benchmark that energy auditors, retrofitters, lenders, realtors, and consumers can use to compare home energy performance and identify the most energy efficient homes.

Develop a National Home Energy Performance Measure
“Before we can develop an energy performance label for existing homes, we must establish a standardized home energy performance measure applicable to every home in America,” states the report.

This measure will make it much easier for consumers to understand how much they can save by retrofitting their home. It will also give lenders the information they need to work with homeowners who are looking to invest in home energy improvements.

Improve Energy Efficient Mortgages

Expanding the use of Energy Efficient Mortgages will simplify the process of obtaining and financing energy retrofits at a home’s point of sale. This effort will also work to lower the cost of home energy audits as well as the monthly financing payments, and ensure that retrofits are accurately valued in the appraisal process. Federal Departments and Agencies will work collaboratively to: advance a standard home energy performance measure and more uniform underwriting procedures; develop procedures for more accurate home energy appraisals; and streamline the energy audit process.

Mobilize a Well-Trained National Energy Retrofit Workforce; Establish National Workforce Certifications and Training Standards
“A uniform set of national standards to qualify energy efficiency and retrofit workers and industry training providers will establish the foundation of consumer confidence that work will be completed correctly and produce the expected energy savings and benefits,” according to the report.

Consistent high-level national standards will spur the utilization of qualified training providers that offer career-track programs for people of all skill levels, promote and expand green jobs opportunities, and facilitate the mobilization of a national home retrofit workforce.

Federal Departments and Agencies (including the Department of Labor, the Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency) will work in collaboration to assess existing standards and training programs and develop consistent models, guides, and best practices for training and certification. The Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, and the Small Business Administration will assist in implementing the best practices developed by the other Departments and Agencies.

In summary, officials believe that coordinated and principled Federal actions, like those described in the report, in partnership with states, cities, counties, and the existing home energy industry, may be able to tackle the challenges faced by the current retrofit market. These recommendations can pave the way for a self-sustaining retrofit market, a market that can reliably cut energy bills while also creating good green jobs and saving consumers money.

“We can build on the foundation of the Recovery Act to jumpstart a thriving, private market for energy efficient and healthy home retrofitting that will put thousands of people back to work while also reducing our impact on the environment.”

CLICK HERE to view the full report.