Jeanne Shaheen: “I rise today to join with my colleague and fellow member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator…”

“I rise today to join with my colleague and fellow member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, to introduce the Recovery Through Building Renovation Act of 2010. There is enormous potential to reduce our nation's energy consumption and create jobs by investing in energy efficiency, especially through renovating existing buildings. According to the Energy Information Administration, buildings account for more than 48 percent of total energy consumption in the United States. That is more than transportation sector and more than the industrial sector. More than 70 percent of the commercial buildings in this country are older than 20 years and these buildings are significantly less efficient than buildings built today. Improvements to these types of buildings can improve efficiency by 20 to 40 percent using widely available technologies and the payback period can be as little 5 years. These investments in building efficiency pay for themselves and then some. Most importantly, Senator Landrieu and I view this legislation as part of our broader effort here to create jobs and contribute to our economic recovery.”