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VP Joe Biden Unveils Home Energy Efficiency Program


November 09, 2010 3:45 PM








ABC News' Mary Bruce reports:


The White House announced a new federal program today designed to help Americans make their homes more energy-efficient, which Vice President Joe Biden said it would save consumers money and create jobs. 


“We believe that retrofitting homes has the potential to save us billions of dollars. And we believe that these projects that we are announcing today will go a long way toward growing an industry and in the process create good jobs for a very good public purpose,” Biden said at a Middle Class Task Force event at the White House this afternoon, noting that the new initiative could create tens of thousands of jobs. 


The Recovery Through Retrofit program will enable homeowners to get low-cost energy audits of their homes and federally insured loans to pay for improvements. 


“Look, folks, investing in this stuff is the only way to build an economy capable of not just competing in the 21st century, but actually leading, as we have in the past,” Biden explained. “Making our homes more energy efficient, a major part of this, is a no-brainer.  It saves consumers money on their electricity, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, it creates jobs.  It's all part of efforts to fundamentally reimagine the American economy by fundamentally changing our approach to energy consumption.” 


Biden also said that retrofitting homes is “one of the quickest jolts” to move the country toward energy independence. “It is the low-hanging fruit out there. It doesn't require many significant technological breakthroughs to have gigantic impact on our consumption patterns,” Biden said. 


Under the new program, homeowners will receive a “Home Energy Score” that ranks their home’s efficiency on a scale of one to ten and shows how it compares to others in the neighborhood. Trained and certified contractors will then estimate how much money a homeowner could potentially save through upgrades and will recommend improvements. 


To pay for retrofitting, consumers will be eligible for up to $25,000 in low-interest, federally insured “PowerSaver” loans. The program also sets new guidelines for contractors that identify the skills needed for workers in the retrofit industry. 


Several communities across the country are testing the new energy scoring system this fall before it's rolled out nationally next summer. 


“I don't want to oversell this, but this is a significant start,” Biden concluded


The White House announced a new federal program today designed to help Americans make their homes more energy efficient, which Vice President Joe Biden said will save consumers money and create jobs. 


“We believe that retrofitting homes has the potential to save us billions of dollars. And we believe that these projects that we are announcing today will go a long way toward growing an industry and in the process creating good jobs for a very good public purpose,” Biden said at a Middle Class Task Force event at the White House this afternoon, noting that the new initiative could create tens of thousands of jobs. 


The “Recovery Through Retrofit” program will enable homeowners to get low-cost energy audits of their homes and federally insured loans to pay for improvements.  


“Look, folks, investing in this stuff is the only way to build an economy capable of not just competing in the 21st century, but actually leading, as we have in the past,” Biden explained. “Making our homes more energy efficient, a major part of this, is a no-brainer.  It saves consumers money on their electricity, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, it creates jobs.  It's all part of efforts to fundamentally re-imagine the American economy by fundamentally changing our approach to energy consumption.” 


Biden also said that retrofitting homes is “one of the quickest jolts” to move the country toward energy independence. “It is the low-hanging fruit out there. It doesn't require many significant technological breakthroughs to have gigantic impact on our consumption patterns,” Biden said. 


Under the new program, homeowners will receive a “Home Energy Score” that ranks their home’s efficiency on a scale of one to 10 and shows how it compares with others in the neighborhood. Trained and certified contractors will then estimate how much money a homeowner could potentially save through upgrades and recommends improvements. 


To pay for retrofitting, consumers will be eligible for up to $25,000 in low-interest, federally insured PowerSaver loans. The program also sets new guidelines for contractors that identify the skills needed for workers in the retrofit industry. 


Several communities across the country are testing the new energy scoring system this fall before it's rolled out nationally next summer. 


“I don't want to oversell this, but this is a significant start,” Biden said.


-Mary Bruce






November 9, 2010
in Joe Biden, Mary Bruce, White House
| Permalink
| Share
| User Comments (32)




Failure is a feature, not a bug, of public schools. Keep the public dumb. Needy. Wanting more government that Democrats are only all too willing to provide. Voucher systems have been successful wherever they have been honestly tried. Which is why the Democrats have killed such programs. What the MSM has done its best to do is to lose this down the memory hole, as it is an utterly shameful act by Obama and Congressional Democrats in deep-sixing the successful voucher program in D.C., dooming 1,800 low-income mostly black students to one of the worst educational systems in the country (the worst is DPS -Detroit Public Schools, which I have bogged about ad infinitum here):

  • It's official: Democrats kill successful DC voucher program, resegregate DC Public Schools 

  • After hiding the data and dumping the successful DC voucher program, the only thing Obama should tell students today is "I'm sorry"

  •  Freep: Public Schools Are Crap - Let's Remold It!  

  • Detroit News: DPS FAIL!!! 

  • Vouchers vs. D.C. public schools 

  • WaPo: Voucher Subterfuge

Education secretary Arne Duncan referred to DC public schools as a district with “more money than God.” More than $28,000 per student. Failing miserably. The only success in that district was a voucher program that Obama attacked, even though vouchers cost a quarter (that's right - 25%) of the $28,000 number and helped the students. Should Obama get his head screwed on straight (good luck with that one), he will announce today to all students that since vouchers have been a smashing success in D.C., proved by concrete educational data, they should be a smashing success elsewhere. I mean -wouldn't that be a move to "restore scientific integrity in governmental decision making?" Especially since vouchers are proven to help students and drive down costs?



But that is not what anyone will hear. That's because Obama and his administration hid data indicating the program's successful educational results as they pushed Congressional Democrats to scrap the program. After all, they have the teachers unions to protect. The WSJ published an article a while back about the shenanigans:



It's bad enough that Democrats are killing a program that parents love and is closing the achievement gap between poor minorities and whites. But as scandalous is that the Education Department almost certainly knew the results of this evaluation for months.



Voucher recipients were tested last spring. The scores were analyzed in the late summer and early fall, and in November preliminary results were presented to a team of advisers who work with the Education Department to produce the annual evaluation. Since Education officials are intimately involved in this process, they had to know what was in this evaluation even as Democrats passed (and Mr. Obama signed) language that ends the program after next year.



Opponents of school choice for poor children have long claimed they'd support vouchers if there was evidence that they work. While running for President last year, Mr. Obama told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that if he saw more proof that they were successful, he would "not allow my predisposition to stand in the way of making sure that our kids can learn . . . You do what works for the kids." Except, apparently, when what works is opposed by unions.



Mr. Duncan's office spurned our repeated calls and emails asking what and when he and his aides knew about these results. We do know the Administration prohibited anyone involved with the evaluation from discussing it publicly. You'd think we were talking about nuclear secrets, not about a taxpayer-funded pilot program. A reasonable conclusion is that Mr. Duncan's department didn't want proof of voucher success to interfere with Senator Dick Durbin's campaign to kill vouchers at the behest of the teachers unions.
The decision to let 1,700 poor kids get tossed from private schools is a moral disgrace. It also exposes the ugly politics that lies beneath union and liberal efforts across the country to undermine mayoral control, charter schools, vouchers or any reform that threatens their monopoly over public education dollars and jobs. The Sheldon Silver-Dick Durbin Democrats aren't worried that school choice doesn't work. They're worried that it does, and if Messrs. Obama and Duncan want to succeed as reformers they need to say so consistently.
Ouch. Read the whole thing as it is a very worthy read. There's more and it is equally devastating. There is not enough shame to be heaped on the heads of Democrats for this obscenity of a decision. In Arizona, the school choice program there has been targeted for termination as well: Video: Arizona School Choice Fight Goes to U.S. Supreme Court


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Angry Black Lady, in her recent post, pointed out how many of Fox's readers (not to mention employees) are humor-impaired. In response, commentor Trollhattan alerts us to the upcoming Onion News Network: ...


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No Batmobile in Arkham City <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of No Batmobile in Arkham City. ... Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 teaser 14 December, 2009. Latest News. Batman: Arkham City details emerge . Batman: Arkham City revealed, dated . Batman domains name Arkham sequel? ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: Small Biz Bonanza

On this day after Thanksgiving, we thought we'd create a feast of small business resources ourselves. Please dig in and enjoy every tasty morsel. This bonanza.

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Open Thread: Onion <b>News</b> Network!

Angry Black Lady, in her recent post, pointed out how many of Fox's readers (not to mention employees) are humor-impaired. In response, commentor Trollhattan alerts us to the upcoming Onion News Network: ...


bench craft company account excutives are standing by



« Previous |

Main

| Next »



VP Joe Biden Unveils Home Energy Efficiency Program


November 09, 2010 3:45 PM








ABC News' Mary Bruce reports:


The White House announced a new federal program today designed to help Americans make their homes more energy-efficient, which Vice President Joe Biden said it would save consumers money and create jobs. 


“We believe that retrofitting homes has the potential to save us billions of dollars. And we believe that these projects that we are announcing today will go a long way toward growing an industry and in the process create good jobs for a very good public purpose,” Biden said at a Middle Class Task Force event at the White House this afternoon, noting that the new initiative could create tens of thousands of jobs. 


The Recovery Through Retrofit program will enable homeowners to get low-cost energy audits of their homes and federally insured loans to pay for improvements. 


“Look, folks, investing in this stuff is the only way to build an economy capable of not just competing in the 21st century, but actually leading, as we have in the past,” Biden explained. “Making our homes more energy efficient, a major part of this, is a no-brainer.  It saves consumers money on their electricity, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, it creates jobs.  It's all part of efforts to fundamentally reimagine the American economy by fundamentally changing our approach to energy consumption.” 


Biden also said that retrofitting homes is “one of the quickest jolts” to move the country toward energy independence. “It is the low-hanging fruit out there. It doesn't require many significant technological breakthroughs to have gigantic impact on our consumption patterns,” Biden said. 


Under the new program, homeowners will receive a “Home Energy Score” that ranks their home’s efficiency on a scale of one to ten and shows how it compares to others in the neighborhood. Trained and certified contractors will then estimate how much money a homeowner could potentially save through upgrades and will recommend improvements. 


To pay for retrofitting, consumers will be eligible for up to $25,000 in low-interest, federally insured “PowerSaver” loans. The program also sets new guidelines for contractors that identify the skills needed for workers in the retrofit industry. 


Several communities across the country are testing the new energy scoring system this fall before it's rolled out nationally next summer. 


“I don't want to oversell this, but this is a significant start,” Biden concluded


The White House announced a new federal program today designed to help Americans make their homes more energy efficient, which Vice President Joe Biden said will save consumers money and create jobs. 


“We believe that retrofitting homes has the potential to save us billions of dollars. And we believe that these projects that we are announcing today will go a long way toward growing an industry and in the process creating good jobs for a very good public purpose,” Biden said at a Middle Class Task Force event at the White House this afternoon, noting that the new initiative could create tens of thousands of jobs. 


The “Recovery Through Retrofit” program will enable homeowners to get low-cost energy audits of their homes and federally insured loans to pay for improvements.  


“Look, folks, investing in this stuff is the only way to build an economy capable of not just competing in the 21st century, but actually leading, as we have in the past,” Biden explained. “Making our homes more energy efficient, a major part of this, is a no-brainer.  It saves consumers money on their electricity, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, it creates jobs.  It's all part of efforts to fundamentally re-imagine the American economy by fundamentally changing our approach to energy consumption.” 


Biden also said that retrofitting homes is “one of the quickest jolts” to move the country toward energy independence. “It is the low-hanging fruit out there. It doesn't require many significant technological breakthroughs to have gigantic impact on our consumption patterns,” Biden said. 


Under the new program, homeowners will receive a “Home Energy Score” that ranks their home’s efficiency on a scale of one to 10 and shows how it compares with others in the neighborhood. Trained and certified contractors will then estimate how much money a homeowner could potentially save through upgrades and recommends improvements. 


To pay for retrofitting, consumers will be eligible for up to $25,000 in low-interest, federally insured PowerSaver loans. The program also sets new guidelines for contractors that identify the skills needed for workers in the retrofit industry. 


Several communities across the country are testing the new energy scoring system this fall before it's rolled out nationally next summer. 


“I don't want to oversell this, but this is a significant start,” Biden said.


-Mary Bruce






November 9, 2010
in Joe Biden, Mary Bruce, White House
| Permalink
| Share
| User Comments (32)




Failure is a feature, not a bug, of public schools. Keep the public dumb. Needy. Wanting more government that Democrats are only all too willing to provide. Voucher systems have been successful wherever they have been honestly tried. Which is why the Democrats have killed such programs. What the MSM has done its best to do is to lose this down the memory hole, as it is an utterly shameful act by Obama and Congressional Democrats in deep-sixing the successful voucher program in D.C., dooming 1,800 low-income mostly black students to one of the worst educational systems in the country (the worst is DPS -Detroit Public Schools, which I have bogged about ad infinitum here):

  • It's official: Democrats kill successful DC voucher program, resegregate DC Public Schools 

  • After hiding the data and dumping the successful DC voucher program, the only thing Obama should tell students today is "I'm sorry"

  •  Freep: Public Schools Are Crap - Let's Remold It!  

  • Detroit News: DPS FAIL!!! 

  • Vouchers vs. D.C. public schools 

  • WaPo: Voucher Subterfuge

Education secretary Arne Duncan referred to DC public schools as a district with “more money than God.” More than $28,000 per student. Failing miserably. The only success in that district was a voucher program that Obama attacked, even though vouchers cost a quarter (that's right - 25%) of the $28,000 number and helped the students. Should Obama get his head screwed on straight (good luck with that one), he will announce today to all students that since vouchers have been a smashing success in D.C., proved by concrete educational data, they should be a smashing success elsewhere. I mean -wouldn't that be a move to "restore scientific integrity in governmental decision making?" Especially since vouchers are proven to help students and drive down costs?



But that is not what anyone will hear. That's because Obama and his administration hid data indicating the program's successful educational results as they pushed Congressional Democrats to scrap the program. After all, they have the teachers unions to protect. The WSJ published an article a while back about the shenanigans:



It's bad enough that Democrats are killing a program that parents love and is closing the achievement gap between poor minorities and whites. But as scandalous is that the Education Department almost certainly knew the results of this evaluation for months.



Voucher recipients were tested last spring. The scores were analyzed in the late summer and early fall, and in November preliminary results were presented to a team of advisers who work with the Education Department to produce the annual evaluation. Since Education officials are intimately involved in this process, they had to know what was in this evaluation even as Democrats passed (and Mr. Obama signed) language that ends the program after next year.



Opponents of school choice for poor children have long claimed they'd support vouchers if there was evidence that they work. While running for President last year, Mr. Obama told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that if he saw more proof that they were successful, he would "not allow my predisposition to stand in the way of making sure that our kids can learn . . . You do what works for the kids." Except, apparently, when what works is opposed by unions.



Mr. Duncan's office spurned our repeated calls and emails asking what and when he and his aides knew about these results. We do know the Administration prohibited anyone involved with the evaluation from discussing it publicly. You'd think we were talking about nuclear secrets, not about a taxpayer-funded pilot program. A reasonable conclusion is that Mr. Duncan's department didn't want proof of voucher success to interfere with Senator Dick Durbin's campaign to kill vouchers at the behest of the teachers unions.
The decision to let 1,700 poor kids get tossed from private schools is a moral disgrace. It also exposes the ugly politics that lies beneath union and liberal efforts across the country to undermine mayoral control, charter schools, vouchers or any reform that threatens their monopoly over public education dollars and jobs. The Sheldon Silver-Dick Durbin Democrats aren't worried that school choice doesn't work. They're worried that it does, and if Messrs. Obama and Duncan want to succeed as reformers they need to say so consistently.
Ouch. Read the whole thing as it is a very worthy read. There's more and it is equally devastating. There is not enough shame to be heaped on the heads of Democrats for this obscenity of a decision. In Arizona, the school choice program there has been targeted for termination as well: Video: Arizona School Choice Fight Goes to U.S. Supreme Court


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No Batmobile in Arkham City <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of No Batmobile in Arkham City. ... Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 teaser 14 December, 2009. Latest News. Batman: Arkham City details emerge . Batman: Arkham City revealed, dated . Batman domains name Arkham sequel? ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: Small Biz Bonanza

On this day after Thanksgiving, we thought we'd create a feast of small business resources ourselves. Please dig in and enjoy every tasty morsel. This bonanza.

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Open Thread: Onion <b>News</b> Network!

Angry Black Lady, in her recent post, pointed out how many of Fox's readers (not to mention employees) are humor-impaired. In response, commentor Trollhattan alerts us to the upcoming Onion News Network: ...


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No Batmobile in Arkham City <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of No Batmobile in Arkham City. ... Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 teaser 14 December, 2009. Latest News. Batman: Arkham City details emerge . Batman: Arkham City revealed, dated . Batman domains name Arkham sequel? ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: Small Biz Bonanza

On this day after Thanksgiving, we thought we'd create a feast of small business resources ourselves. Please dig in and enjoy every tasty morsel. This bonanza.

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Open Thread: Onion <b>News</b> Network!

Angry Black Lady, in her recent post, pointed out how many of Fox's readers (not to mention employees) are humor-impaired. In response, commentor Trollhattan alerts us to the upcoming Onion News Network: ...


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No Batmobile in Arkham City <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of No Batmobile in Arkham City. ... Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 teaser 14 December, 2009. Latest News. Batman: Arkham City details emerge . Batman: Arkham City revealed, dated . Batman domains name Arkham sequel? ...

Small Business <b>News</b>: Small Biz Bonanza

On this day after Thanksgiving, we thought we'd create a feast of small business resources ourselves. Please dig in and enjoy every tasty morsel. This bonanza.

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Open Thread: Onion <b>News</b> Network!

Angry Black Lady, in her recent post, pointed out how many of Fox's readers (not to mention employees) are humor-impaired. In response, commentor Trollhattan alerts us to the upcoming Onion News Network: ...


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