With passage in the House of the Waxman Markey Climate Bill, we are about halfway to the “most ambitious energy and climate change legislation ever,” according toThe New York Times。在许多领域浇灌，例如可再生能源要求和能源部门的自由污染信贷，影响建筑物，新的和现有的部分仍然是票据中最强的部分。到2010年，新建筑的要求达到30％（即明年，尽管可能会推迟到2011年或2012年！）到2016年通过完整的50％的效率。最重要的是，在公共住房中有与能源相关的工作，职业培训和能效有10亿美元。最后，对现有房屋的能源升级有显着改善的激励措施。详情可供选择Efficiency Firstwebsite. We now have to wait and see if it makes it through the Senate without sustaining too much damage.

Who’s happy now?

While many environmental groups were disappointed with the watered-down renewable energy standard and carbon emissions requirements, those of us in the green building industry should be pleased with the combination of new efficiency requirements and incentives in the bill. I’m sure that NAHB is not happy that the efficiency standards made it through intact, and I’m also sure that it will ramp up its fight against them when Senate debate on the bill starts. So, once again, the building community is split between those who support energy legislation and those who insist that everything be voluntary.

As I said in mylast blogon this subject, I believe that NAHB is being shortsighted in its opposition to this bill. The organization opposes almost all regulation as a matter of course. What it fails to realize is that regulated industries historically do better than unregulated ones. Look at airlines and trucking companies: They were very profitable during their regulated years; once they were deregulated, much of their profits evaporated. Drug companies are tightly regulated and astoundingly profitable.

We should be happy now

建筑物中的能源效率更强将不是建筑业的结束。他们可能会使不合格的承包商持续盈利更加困难。设定强的基线将有助于杂草不应该在业务中的人，并允许那些有兴趣的人能够建立更好的建筑物来蓬勃发展。大恐惧是提高效率的成本。我争辩说，如果你建造一个高质量的建筑物，那么你正在建造绿色，因此改善您的流程以满足新的能源标准，不会产生一些延伸。一些聪明的专业人士甚至会弄清楚降低成本的方法，同时提高效率。Add to this the legions of happier clients with healthier, more comfortable homes that cost less to operate, and these companies’ phones will be ringing off the hook when banks finally ease up and start lending again (but sensibly, this time, we can only hope).

Get on the phone

Call your senators now. Ask them to support the bill as it is, and maybe even suggest that they make it stronger. Those opposing it have offered no reasonable alternative–they are simply obstructionists. Let’s work together to make this happen. We will all benefit in the long run.