MEBANE - We can do a lot to fix America's energy future and put people back to work by weatherizing light commercial buildings and h omes owned by folks of all income levels, including those facing foreclosure, without increasing the national debt.

We can reach more buildings and save more energy for the middle class and poor alike if we could write market-rate weatherization contracts that would tie repayment to the electric bill rather than the owner's credit or home-equity, or to government handouts and all their paperwork.

I am a small builder who works with my architect wife and six skilled craftsmen to build homes that are green-certified and more than twice as efficient as for Energy Star. Despite the financial crises, our business is booming and last year was our best ever. We have been hiring new workers and gave substantial profit-sharing to our employees last year. I have been working in this industry for over 30 years and have a good idea of the opportunities at hand today.

As many as 60 percent of the homes and small commercial buildings in America could reduce their energy bills by $600 per year if they received a weatherization package that cost $5,000 or less and could be paid off with a $50 a month payment. Energy Star-licensed Home Energy Rating System (HERS) raters would filter out the inappropriate houses where $5,000 would not yield enough savings to pay back the $600 per year, thus maintaining customer satisfaction.

For-profit banks could make low-interest microloans marketed and collected through the homes' electric bills. The work can be performed by existing private home insulation companies under the supervision of existing licensed Energy Star HERS raters and state energy offices. The cost would be collected through the monthly power bill, saving taxpayers the cost of the work, meaning that more work could be done, and more jobs created, over a longer period of time while saving the stimulus plan money for other priorities.

 

This has advantages over the current stimulus plan and free weatherization proposals because when we give something away, either through direct subsidies or tax write-offs, we devalue that thing in the marketplace. We create a sense of entitlement in the consumer that makes it difficult to sell that same item on the open market for a price that reflects its true value. This undermines the industry.

This alternative financing strategy doesn't undermine the value of the work. The beneficiaries are paying full price for the work they are getting done; it's just being financed creatively. Why should taxpayers pay to subsidize something that pays for itself?

The government could work through state energy offices to implement the project by facilitating the loan contracts and bundling them into securities for resale to banks and investors. Since the loans would be secured by the electric grid connection and would not result in a cost increase to the electric consumer, the bank's risk (and interest rates) would be low. The program would be applicable to people with bad credit, renters, small businesses and even homes with no equity or in foreclosure. Once the loan was paid back (or if energy prices increased) the savings would go to the consumer.

Keep the loans small, not more than $5,000, so the payback cost would balance the fuel savings -- but let's also encourage the auditors to educate occupants and provide a menu of additional strategies they could take on to further improve their energy efficiency on their own. We are aiming for the low-hanging fruit here. Americans can stand on their own two feet for the rest.

Let's put Americans to work fixing America's problems. We can do it; let's get started.