Green Innovation Initiative?

Congresswomen Melissa Bean just introduced a series of bills called the Green Innovation Initiative, to provide incentives to builders, businesses and homeowners to invest in green technology and green buildings.

To create the secure energy infrastructure needed to power the future, we must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by developing alternative energy sources and better conserving the energy that we already have. If we want to build a healthy, sustainable environment for our children and grandchildren, we need to prioritize scaling back our current carbon emissions by making our homes and workplaces more energy efficient. Promoting development of these energy-efficient technologies revitalizes our workforce, expands job opportunities and strengthens our economy.

These bills are meant to promote the economic growth, energy preservation and environmental protection future generations are counting on.
Her Green Innovation Initiative consists of:

• H.R. 5597, The Next Generation Homes Act, which promotes the construction and purchase of energy-efficient homes. Provides home builders with tax incentives for construction of homes that are measurably more energy-efficient as defined by the Energy Star and HERS indexes, with the largest incentives reserved for builders of Zero Energy Homes.
  
• Encourages homebuyers to purchase an energy-efficient home when an equivalent, less-efficient home is more affordable, by making that difference tax deductible. So if you buy a home that is $10,000 more expensive because of energy-efficient improvements -- such as better insulation, energy-efficient heating systems or alternative energy sources -- then you can deduct that $10,000 from your taxable income.
  

H.R. 4574, The Commercial Conservation Act, which encourages investment in newer and more energy-efficient HVAC systems in commercial buildings.

• Changes the tax code to reduce the depreciation time for all commercial building heating and air conditioning units from 39 years to 25 years.
  
• Depreciation time reduced to 20 years for units that are at least 10 percent more efficient than existing standards for modern air conditioners.
  

H.R. 5372, Recycling Investment Saves Energy (RISE) Act, which would provide incentives for recycling companies to buy newer and better equipment.

• Changes the tax code to provide a 50 percent accelerated depreciation allowance for companies to purchase advanced recycling technology, which would increase the quality and quantity of recovered material.

Earth Hour 2008 in Round Lake

On March 29, 2008, residents in the Chicago region will join millions of people around the world to voluntarily “turn off the lights” for an hour from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. to make a bold statement about climate change. Earth Hour will demonstrate that by working together, each one of us can make a positive impact on this global issue. Governments, business, communities, and individuals on six continents will participate in Earth Hour and agree to make changes that will curb their carbon dioxide emissions.

In the United States, Chicago has been selected as the flagship city for Earth Hour. Earth Hour Chicago and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus are asking the region’s Mayors to participate and make Chicago’s efforts regional. All we ask is that you encourage the businesses and residents in your community to turn off their lights from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on March 29.

• Sign up at www.earthhour.org. Not only will you really feel part of it, but you will also receive lots of useful tips and tools.
• Tell a friend about Earth Hour. Better yet, tell all your friends, your family and your co-workers. Just email them with a link to the above website.
• Advertise. If you own a business, don’t be afraid to advertise your support for Earth Hour. It’s great for business and the environment!
  

Earth Hour is an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund. WWF did a test run of the initiative last year in Sydney, Australia. It was so successful that they decided to invite other cities and regions across the world to participate in this year’s effort. In addition to the WWF, Earth Hour Chicago is supported by ComEd, Leo Burnett, the City of Chicago, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, Building Owners and Managers Association, Chicagoland Chamber, Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, Labor Unions, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Chicago Public Schools, Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, and many others. Earth Hour is only one step in the region’s ongoing commitment to be the greenest in the nation.

Our member municipalities have already demonstrated their dedication to protecting the environment through the Greenest Region Compact, Clean Air Counts, building “green” police stations and public facilities, purchasing green power, and by incorporating many other healthy environmental practices into the everyday work of government.

Blog Action Day---Lets try to reduce our carbon footprint!

Today is Blog Action Day a worldwide movement that is encouraging all bloggers to write about one topic and one topic only today....the Environment. I love the idea and of course I could write about some of the things we have done here in Round Lake since I have been Mayor, like recycling garbage cans, electronic recycling, and of course Tree City status as well.


There is an interesting website called Zerofootprint which brings together the power of social networks on the web — the best environmental science, risk management and software engineering — to create an environment for change that focuses on an individual's impact as part of the human collective effort.

I signed up for Zerofootprint to see if I could reduce my carbon footprint, and I discovered where there is an outreach to Mayors, so I contacted them to see what's up with that! More to follow, I am sure!

By the way my carbon footprint was 17.4 tons of CO2, my daughters was 14.0.