State & National Energy Efficiency Policies Will Create More Jobs

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In August 2010, the Center for American Progress and the Energy Resource Management Corporation released the report Efficiency Works: Creating Good Jobs and New Markets Through Energy Efficiency. They report that due to the mortgage crisis, the construction industry and related jobs were among those hit the hardest. In the first three months of 2010, construction unemployment hovered near 25 percent. Between 2006 and early 2010, residential construction declined by 38 percent which translates into more than one in three construction workers losing their jobs because of the recession.

How can the U.S. leverage these workers’ skills, put them back to work, benefit the economy and help alleviate climate change? Re-purpose their knowledge and experience into refitting residential and commercial buildings to be more energy efficient. The Center for American Progress believes that the U.S. needs a national program for this undertaking, and “it will take public policy leadership to mobilize the private sector investment that is needed to grow this emerging market.”

More, including the 10 leading state energy efficiency markets and 10 states with the most energy efficiency potential, on our sister site, EcoLocalizer: States Working Toward Increased Energy Efficiency Will Create More Jobs

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