Energy Star tax credits
35 years of neglectful U.S. energy policies have come home to roost.
I am not one to avoid looking at the negative. (Ask my wife) But here is latest word from the Hannover, Germany World Energy Dialog, telling us how far behind we have fallen in an area dear to me, building energy.
Michael, Ivanovich wrote in his blog in Consulting Engineers webzine ,,
Keith Cooley, president and CEO, Next Energy, Detroit, …made a good showing by American standards, but with not much to brag about except Obama’s recent stimulus money and the pick of Steve Chu to lead the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Cooley concluded that America needs international help on energy.
This was a major “wow.” So I began to ask myself why the Europeans were so ahead of the U.S. The rep for Europeans is that their buildings are better built and maintained; their cars are smaller, more fuel efficient, and better maintained; and their industrial plants are more modern and efficient. The rap on Americans is that we’re wasteful, ignorant, and selfish, and that Big Oil and Big Business (utilities, automakers, etc.) dictate national energy policy. We drive SUVs, live and work in leaky, inefficient buildings, and are addicted to fossil fuels.
With our energy use per capita being almost twice that of other industrialized nations, Americans are ugly on energy. I’m talking Bermuda shorts, white socks, cheap sandals, and Slurpee slop dripping down our t-shirt ugly. Europeans, by comparison, are wearing tailored suits and making plans to make money off of us because we didn’t figure the game out early enough to make money off of them.
European energy snobs vs ugly Americans, June 1 2009, CES Magazine
I do not wonder anymore why it seems hard to make building owners care much about energy conservation. Ho hum.
Another nail in the coffin of American 20th century energy hog habit. Blame it on Texas? Blame it on Pennsylvania where the first oil was pumped in the 1850s?
