Here's an interesting view on the green building element of President Obama's State of the Union address:
The Better Buildings Initiative is the next step. For the first time, we will look at the carbon footprints of the buildings. The schools where our kids learn. The stores where we shop. The offices where most of us spend at least a third of our days.
With the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building certification system already deployed against more than 7.4 billion square feet of commercial space, we have a running start. Green buildings save energy, water, natural resources and money. But they also create jobs, jobs that Americans can do in the United States, and that can't be outsourced. We have long stressed that green building could -- and should -- be the centerpiece of a green jobs creation program -- adapting the more than five million commercial buildings, and 120 million homes already in existence in the United States to be more energy efficient will mobilize our domestic manufacturing and construction sectors in a way not seen since World War II. And the innovation they are already inspiring has the potential to create jobs in every sector of the American economy.
Winning the future means reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources, and winning the future means reducing our reliance on energy sources that pollute the air and water and lead to climate change. Making our buildings more efficient will automatically reduce our energy usage, preserving our natural resources.
Winning the future also means having a healthy workforce -- and green buildings are healthy buildings. Green schools are healthy schools. In fact, we've already seen green schools where test scores rose and absences due to respiratory illness fell. A healthy student learns more and eventually enters the workforce better prepared to keep America not just competitive, but exceptional.
There is also some argument that the alternative energy portion of the President's plans will make US leaders, and that argument comes from a former Secretary of the U.S. Air Force under the Bush administration, and an advocate for alternative fuels for the military and the rest of America!
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