USGBC Names ‘Top 10 List’ of Green Building Bills
March 10, 2010

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released its “Top 10 List” of legislation advancing green building and the economic activity and jobs that come with it. A number of congressional members were honored recently for their support of green building.

The USGBC Top 10 list honors The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and spotlights nine other pending bills in the House and ten in the Senate that represent what it sees as the best proposals to advance green building. The list includes bills that have been introduced in Congress in the last year that would enable innovative financing for homeowners and building owners to make efficiency improvements, increase and extend incentives for improving schools and existing building stock, and encourage job growth and training in new fields of building energy management and retrofits.

One of the bills recognized is the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Introduced last spring, the bill included language that would require manufacturers in the glass industry either absorb the increased cost of carbon emissions (via cap-and-trade) or the increased cost of having to deal with additional state and federal regulation. As part of the cap-and-trade system, manufacturers would be provided an allowance of annual carbon credits. Those manufacturers who are below their established emissions would be able to sell or trade carbon allowances to other companies so that those companies could produce more carbon than the legally established limit (CLICK HERE for related article).

Below is a list of all the legislations included.

HOUSE

• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – Public Law
• The American Clean Energy and Security Act – Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
• The 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act – Ben Chandler (D-Ky.)
• The Expanding Building Efficiency Act – Dave Reichert (R-Wash.)
• The Property Assessed Clean Energy Tax Benefits Act — John Sarbanes (D-Md.)
• An Act to Enhance Private Financing for Clean Energy Technology Deployment – Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
• The Energy Efficiency Modernization Act of 2009 – Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio)
• The Water Accountability Tax Efficiency Reinvestment (WATER) Act – Michael Coffman (R-Colo.)
• The Livable Communities Act of 2010 – Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) **pending introduction**
• The Federal Personnel Training Act of 2010 – Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) **pending introduction**

SENATE

• The Clean Energy and American Jobs Act – John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
• The American Clean Energy and Leadership Act – Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
• Energy Efficiency in Housing Act (EEHA) of 2009 – Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
• The Livable Communities Act of 2009 – Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)
• The Expanding Building Efficiency Incentives Act of 2009 – Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)
• The School Building Fairness Act – Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
• Clean Energy for Homes and Buildings Act of 2009 – Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)
• The Energy Efficiency Modernization Act of 2009 – Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
• The Water Accountability Tax Efficiency Reinvestment (WATER) Act of 2009 — Mark Udall (D-Colo.)
• The Federal Agency Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2009 – Susan Collins (R-Maine)
  

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