May 14 2008 6:38PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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Another prevalent sentiment at the Green Building Conference as well as at another recent industry event is the idea that green building and remodeling holds great promise for our economy. Outsourcing is a big concern, from manufacturing of consumer goods to customer service call centers. Industries that can operate anywhere tend to end up in the location with the lowest cost labor, usually not in the US. What cannot leave our shores, however is construction. We can’t build or improve homes overseas and ship them here, except for, perhaps, some modular homes. We have an incredible opportunity to train our workforce to build and renovate homes to the highest standards of efficiency and performance, reducing our energy use while improving our economy and creating new jobs. Commonly referred to as the Green Collar workforce, these members of yet another “new economy” have the opportunity to lead us out of our current recession and save homeowners billions of dollars in energy costs.