When the U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman announced February 4 that President Bush's $25 billion Fiscal Year 2009 budget request for the Department of Energy (DOE) included an increase of $1.073 billion over the FY 2008 appropriation, builders everywhere should have collectively applauded. With consumer interest in 'green' rising rapidly, this request to continue investments in advancing energy-efficiency can only help, not hinder, business if builders wrap their arms around the benefits and make the necessary investments in their futures.

"This budget furthers President Bush's comprehensive strategy to increase energy, economic, and national security by focusing on accelerating technological breakthroughs, expanding traditional and renewable sources of energy, and increasing investment in scientific discovery and development," Secretary Bodman said. "… this budget enables the Department to continue to lay the foundation for a clean, safe, secure and reliable energy future for all Americans."

That same day, the Alliance to Save Energy (Alliance), the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), and the Energy Future Coalition reached an agreement with Duke Energy to expand its energy efficiency programs, including a more aggressive energy savings target. Under the terms of the agreement, the Alliance, ACEEE and the Energy Future Coalition now endorse Duke Energy's save a watt initiative as an innovative and promising new direction for the company and its customers. While supporting the save a watt initiative, the Alliance, ACEEE and the Energy Future Coalition will look to regulators in each state to determine an appropriate and reasonable level of compensation.

Duke Energy announced new, aggressive energy efficiency targets of 1 percent of on-going retail electricity sales by 2015 in its five-state region, upon approval of its save a watt initiative. The company will pursue all cost-effective energy efficiency savings with no company imposed cap on its total energy efficiency investment. The target is subject to the availability of cost-effective energy efficiency programs to achieve the target. To insure success in meeting this aggressive savings target, Duke Energy will devote approximately 5 percent of its energy efficiency program expenditures toward strong evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V) protocols and practices.

"The Alliance to Save Energy applauds Duke Energy's innovative approach to deploying energy efficiency as the first and most valuable resource for meeting its customers growing demand for energy," said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. She added: "Duke's commitment to unlimited investment in energy efficiency marks a paradigm shift away from conventional thinking that growing populations and growing demand by definition require new generation."

"We are excited about this new partnership to expand energy efficiency across the regions we serve," said Ted Schultz, Duke Energy vice president of energy efficiency. "We have adopted some very aggressive energy efficiency targets, but are confident we can produce these savings through additional programs and new technology that will provide greater savings to customers without sacrificing convenience or productivity."

"The nations leading utilities and states are using energy efficiency programs to reduce electricity use by 1 percent or more each year, with savings growing steadily as savings each year are added to prior year accomplishments. We are appreciative that Duke has agreed to a 1 percent savings per year target and look forward to working with them, and through their save a watt initiative, to make this target a reality," said ACEEE executive director Steven Nadel.

"Jim Rogers and Duke are leading the utility industry and the nation toward a new way of thinking about large-scale investment in energy efficiency," said Reid Detchon, Executive Director of the Energy Future Coalition.

Duke Energy has filed energy efficiency plans in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Indiana. The company will be making similar filings in Ohio and Kentucky later this year. The full agreement among these organizations is available for public view at http://ase.org/uploaded_files/temp/save-a-watt/saw_support_statement.pdf.

Read between the lines of what these powerful executives our saying: "increasing investment in scientific discovery and development," "meeting its customers growing demand for energy," and "greater savings to customers without sacrificing convenience or productivity." Sounds like a winning strategy, doesn't it? As builders, are you doing everything you can to be 'green?'

[Note: Duke Energy Corp., one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers energy to approximately 3.9 million U.S. customers -- www.duke-energy.com; The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, the economy, and national security; The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection, ; The Energy Future Coalition is a broad-based, nonpartisan alliance that seeks to bridge the differences among business, labor, and environmental groups and identify energy policy options with broad political support, www.energyfuturecoalition.org.]

Published: February 18, 2008

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Peter L. Mosca is president and founder of BAK Communications, Inc. He has over 22 years of communications and media consulting experience, serving a variety of nonprofit organizations, including the CCIM Institute and the REALTOR Association on all three levels – national, state and local. He is the Spokesperson Trainer for the CCIM's Jay Levine Academy and trains hundreds of residential REALTORS nationwide to be effective industry spokespeople. He is consistently ranked as "excellent" by about 90% of those who attend his presentations. While his principal consulting focuses are public speaking and media relations development and content delivery and management, Peter is also the host of the Voice America Network's weekly radio program, "Income Property Investment Talk," a one-hour program that brings the powerhouses of commercial and residential real estate to property investors every Wednesday at 11 a.m. EST. Peter is married 17 years to his wife Barbara. They have two children: Ashley, 15 and Kelli, 12. Hence, the name BAK Communications, Inc.