Bay Area firms aid Obama's energy retrofit plan

SFGate.co ^ | 12/6/11 | Andrew S. Ross

[NormsRevenge]

When President Obama announced his $4 billion initiative to finance energy efficiency programs at the White House on Friday, a number of Bay Area allies were, literally, right behind him.

There were senior executives from San Francisco's Metrus Energy, which committed $75 million of private capital to the initiative, and from Sunnyvale's Serious Energy and Santa Rosa's Ygrene Energy Fund, both contributing $100 million.

They're among the 60 private companies and other entities "stepping up," in Obama's words, in an effort to retrofit public and commercial buildings nationwide, pitching in approximately half of the $4 billion needed. The rest of the funding for the "Better Buildings Challenge" will come from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Other Bay Area partners include San Francisco's Shorenstein Properties, which has been instituting a number of energy-saving programs across its real estate portfolio, and Oakland's Renewable Funding, which manages San Francisco's $100 million program to retrofit older commercial buildings.

"It's an effort to bring together the private sector to jump-start the whole energy efficiency sector," said the firm's president, Francisco DeVries, who was also present at the White House launch.

Obama said the aim of the initiative is to increase energy efficiency in commercial and public buildings by 20 percent by 2020 - the retrofits are projected to save U.S. businesses $40 billion in energy costs while creating 50,000 jobs.

With no new legislation needed, and no new taxpayer money, "it's the nearest thing we've got to a free lunch in a tough economy," remarked former President Bill Clinton, who helped round up corporate participants.

Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who has had his differences with the White House, agreed. "This is a surefire way to create jobs and make our nation's buildings more energy efficient," he said in a statement.

[Uncle Ike]

” in an effort to retrofit public and commercial buildings nationwide, pitching in approximately half of the $4 billion needed “

Isn’t a 50% kickback on lucrative Gummint Contracts a bit high, even by Chicago standards??

[Talisker]

Isn’t a 50% kickback on lucrative Gummint Contracts a bit high, even by Chicago standards??

60% - 70% kickback - the article said approximately half.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"It's an effort to bring together the private sector to jump-start the whole energy efficiency sector" -- Francisco DeVries"

I entered the utility energy business in 1973. In 1978, I started working for a major utility research institute. Energy conservation retrofits were going on big-time after the very first OPEC oil embargo in 1973, almost 40 years ago.

Only in the fevered minds of parasites sucking off Washington DC would this new program be considered a "jump-start." This has to be the world's longest "jump-start." Government parasitism totally destroys brains and critical thinking capability.