Transforming the Way Americans Use Energy
Energy efficient homes and businesses
$5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
 Funding provided through the states for homeowners and businesses to take immediate steps toward energy efficiency – reducing heating and air conditioning bills and creating jobs.
Buildings use approximately 40 percent of energy consumed in the United States today, so increasing the efficiency of buildings is one of the most effective ways to lower energy consumption, save money, and reduce carbon emissions. The recovery package includes funds to weatherize more than a million homes, beginning with a home energy audit to identify which measures – from adding insulation to sealing leaky windows, roofs, and doorways to upgrading furnaces and appliances – will have the greatest impact. In addition to creating construction jobs in cities and towns across the country, weatherization saves homeowners money and makes their homes more livable. For businesses, the recovery funding will support construction of combined heat and power generation – creating jobs, while reducing energy use and costs.
In addition to funding these ready-to-go energy efficiency projects, the Department of Energy, in partnership with states, industry and manufacturers, will also put scientists, engineers and computer programmers to work developing better ways to build ever more efficient buildings and appliances.
Greening Federal buildings
$4.5 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
 Provide funding to improve the efficiency of federal government offices and buildings, reducing energy bills and creating jobs.
The U.S. government is the largest energy consumer in the world, using approximately two percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. today. As the Department of Energy invests in construction projects to make its own facilities more energy efficient, it will also provide guidance to the rest of the federal government on how to reduce energy costs and the environmental impact of federal buildings through the Federal Energy Management Program. The projects will spur job creation and reduce the government’s energy bill by 25 percent, while significantly lowering carbon emissions.
Read more about efforts to green Federal buildings.
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