CNAIMA Urges Senate to Support Efforts to Unleash Insulation’s Job-Creating Potential

The head of America’s leading association of insulation manufacturers and suppliers today urged members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to support legislation that would unleash the job-creating potential of home and commercial building insulation.

“More than 46 million American homes are under-insulated and many commercial buildings also lack adequate levels of insulation. Installing insulation would immediately create tens of thousands of sorely needed jobs, lower energy bills, and decrease energy usage,” said Kate Offringa, the CEO and President of the Council of the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (CNAIMA), in written testimony before the committee’s hearing on resourceful ways to spur green job growth.

“If American homes were properly insulated, we could save 30 times the amount of energy lost in the 2010 Gulf oil spill. Insulation is an easy solution to a decades-old problem; the time has come for us to put aside partisan politics and be more creative about saving energy and creating jobs,” Offringa said.

The best way to unleash insulation’s economic potential is in the marketplace, by incentivizing people to install and retrofit insulation in new and existing homes and buildings, Offringa pointed out.

She also endorsed “on-bill financing,” which allows consumers to pay for energy efficiency upgrades – such as improved insulation – through utility-run financing with payments made on their utility bills. Finally, she urged the committee to support “innovative approaches to put qualified contractors and installers – all hard hit by the downturn in the housing market and sluggish economy – back to work.”

Among the bipartisan job-creating solutions prescribed by Offringa are:

• The Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act – or SAVE Act. Developed by Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), the SAVE Act would stimulate greater demand for energy efficient homes by instructing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and federal loan agencies to create a new energy cost appraisal process. Several GOP Senators are considering co-sponsorship of Bennet’s bill.
• The Property Assessed Clean Energy Protection Act – or PACE Act. Introduced by a bipartisan coalition of House members, the PACE Act would allow cities, counties, and states to offer innovative programs to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects for homes and commercial buildings – all without government subsidies. Already, 27 states and the District of Columbia have passed PACE-enabling legislation.