There are 130 million homes in the United States and the energy they use accounts for 20 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Retrofit them using existing technologies, such as adding insulation, and energy use falls 40 percent. Even if just 15 percent of the properties were to retrofit, the savings would amount to 4 percent of what the nation needs to turn back emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Feds want to turn your house green and cut energy use by 40 percent
That’s the reasoning behind the federal government’s green home program, rolled out by Vice President Joe Biden on Monday. To accomplish this goal, the government has $3.6 billion it wants to distribute in the form of loans homeowners that get attached to property tax bills.
Biden announced the government has received applications for $80 billion of pilot project work under the PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program. PACE is already under way in several states, but now the federal government has signed on capital.
To participate, a homeowner needs to agree to attach some of all of the improvements to his or her property tax bill. Current PACE programs have let some consumers attach their payments to their utility bills. Payments can be spreads out over the life of the improvements.
As part of the program, the Department of Energy and the EPA are working to create an Energy Star rating for retrofitted homes. New homes can already quality for Energy Star designation.
Posted by Mark Boslet 
