HOME STAR News

Ithaca, NY

Big news for the HOME STAR program! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today announced that the bipartisan HOME STAR legislation will be included in The Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act to be introduced this week. The new bill contains $5 billion for the Home Star rebate program; along with oil spill liability measures and incentives for natural gas vehicles.

PSD joins other HOME STAR Coalition members in support of the passage of this bill. The HOME STAR Coalition has a membership of more than 2,600 businesses and organizations from every state in the country who stand in support of HOME STAR and its widespread benefits for job creation, savings for homeowners, and energy efficiency.

Senator Reid said that he is committed to bringing the limited legislation to the floor before the current session of Congress ends, so fast action is expected as Congress nears its August recess. Stay tuned for more updates, and included below is the full text of Sen. Reid’s statement.

REID INTRODUCES CLEAN ENERGY JOBS AND OIL SPILL ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN

Washington, DC – Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement today to introduce the plan that Senate Democrats announced last week. Attached to this statement is a draft summary. Full legislative text will be released later today:

“Families in Nevada and across America want us to create dependable jobs that cannot be outsourced, lessen our dependence on oil, protect our environment and hold BP accountable for the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The plan that we are introducing today accomplishes these goals through bipartisan ideas.

Our plan will lessen our dependence on oil by promoting the manufacturing and deployment of clean vehicles that use natural gas and electricity. Our plan will help protect environmentally important and vulnerable areas by fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the next 5 years for the first time. And our plan will hold BP and all the oil companies involved in the Gulf Coast oil spill fully accountable for the true costs of the damages they caused. We are making it crystal clear that polluters, not taxpayers, will be held responsible for cleaning up and paying for the damages caused by their negligence.

“This bill does not address every issue of importance to our nation’s energy challenges, and we have to continue to work to find bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive bill to help reduce pollution and deal with the very real threat that global warming poses. But this is a good bill that deserves bipartisan support, and continues us along the path toward a clean energy future.”

Performance Systems Development specializes in providing software, training, and consulting to the building energy efficiency industry. The company provides a whole-systems approach to energy policy, programs, solutions, and software processes, to improve process efficiency. PSD continues to develop TREAT, a leading energy simulation tool for building retrofits, and Green Energy Compass, a residential benchmarking tool. PSD delivers green jobs training, Building Performance Institute certification training, and a licensed curriculum for building professional training programs.