Schools also see financial returns on "sustainable" investments, such as energy-efficient buildings and recycling efforts.
You will help make America a world leader in innovative designs for cost-effective, energy-efficient buildings, from lighting to windows, from heating to cooling.
But because buildings must have had 50% occupancy in the most recent year to achieve the ENERGY STAR label, some energy-efficient buildings were ineligible for government leases due to low occupancy.
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Now, that may not sound too sexy until -- (laughter) -- energy-efficient buildings. (Laughter.) But listen, our homes and our businesses consume 40 percent of the energy we use.
Project Frog, the San Francisco startup behind the 7-Eleven store, is dragging a 19th-century industry into the future with stylish, energy-efficient buildings that can be built in less time and as much as 50% cheaper.
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More investment is flowing to technologies such as upgraded power grids with smart meters that allow users to better manage their consumption of electricity, and energy-efficient buildings that reduce the cost of operations and improve human health through better air quality.
But I've also seen unions re-training workers to build energy- efficient buildings, innovators designing cars that run on fuel cells and biofuels and electricity, cars that get more miles per gallon than ever before, cars that will cut the cost of driving, reduce our reliance on foreign oil, and fight global warming.
There are new tax credits for investments in green energy and energy-efficient commercial buildings.
But projects such as the Bahnstadt show the energy revolution and European efficiency goals "have put very low energy buildings much more strongly in investors' focus, " said Stephan Sperl, a spokesman for German state lender KfW Bankengruppe, which offers low-interest construction loans for energy-efficient residential buildings.
Ken Yeang's "bio-climatic" office buildings provide an energy-efficient alternative to traditional towers by taking into account tropical conditions.
In August, Bush signed an energy bill laden with special business-tax breaks for new nuclear power facilities, "clean coal" technology, coal mined from Native American lands, refinery expansion, fuel-cell power plants, hydrogen refueling stations and for producers of energy-efficient appliances, commercial buildings and homes.
Some improvements are fairly easy, such as switching to energy-efficient LED lighting in buildings and streetlights, or setting aside bike lanes and widening sidewalks to encourage alternatives to driving (although such moves aren't without political hazards, as a recent battle over bike lanes in New York shows).
And we should put Americans to work making our homes and buildings energy-efficient.
Software tools, in the form of centralized, Web-based management applications and platforms, are making buildings smarter and more energy-efficient by ensuring that lighting better matches the way we work today.
Another good example of an area where we can make progress right away is making buildings more energy-efficient.
Most of all, discovering new ways to make buildings more energy-efficient will lead to new jobs and new businesses.
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Earlier this year, I announced a Better Buildings Initiative to rehire construction workers to make our buildings more energy-efficient.
We can probably solve, at least theoretically, a huge chunk of the greenhouse gas problem just by making our buildings more energy-efficient.
Making our buildings more energy-efficient is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to save money, combat pollution and create jobs right here in the United States of America.
The plan, which Obama announced Saturday, aims to put Americans to work updating the country's infrastructure, making public buildings more energy-efficient and implementing environmentally friendly technologies, including alternative energy sources.
When people suggest that, what a waste of money to make federal buildings more energy efficient -- why would that be a waste of money?
Mr. Obama and Democratic congressional leaders talk of creating several million green jobs through tax credits and grants to generate electricity from alternative fuels and encourage energy-efficient vehicles, and to retrofit government buildings and low-income housing to save energy.
Or his other green-energy proposals, or high-speed rail, or federal-state partnerships to construct more efficient buildings?
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One proposal involved a federal revolving-loan program to make buildings more energy efficient.
The simple act of retrofitting these buildings to make them more energy-efficient --insulation new windows and doors, insulation, roofing, sealing leaks, modernizing heating and cooling equipment -- is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest things we can do to put Americans back to work while saving families money and reducing harmful emissions.
We are providing funding for the retrofitting of buildings so that they become more energy-efficient.
The cross-laminated timber used on the Stadthaus is classified as air-tight, making it one of London's most energy efficient buildings.
In the United States, I think we are learning how to develop buildings that use much less energy, that are much more energy-efficient.
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Reducing water use at its buildings, cutting down on non-essential travel and the construction of modern energy efficient stations to replace existing ones have been among suggestions of the ways in which HIFRS could cut CO2 emissions.
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The conventional energy-consuming systems in those buildings--lighting, heating, cooling--have become much more efficient.
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