DOE's Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative is seeking 50 percent energy savings now, with the goal of net-zero buildings by 2020

摘要

With the passage of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in February, the agenda was frontloaded with billions of dollars for an area that sparks little controversy but holds huge potential for both energy independence and climate change: improved building efficiency.rn"Energy efficiency and conservation is where the greatest gains will be," predicted Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist selected by President Barack Obama to lead the Department of Energy (DOE), to reporters in April. "As we retrofit commercial and residential buildings, as we build new ones ... we're really talking about 50,60,70 percent reductions in energy over the coming decades. That's a huge amount of energy that we can be saving."