Retrofits and Carbon Reduction

Stepping up efforts to renovate buildings to be energy efficient could lead to the creation of millions of new jobs, particularly for workers in entry-level and mid-level positions. Buildings consume 43 percent of the energy used in the United States, making them responsible for a comparable amount of carbon emissions. The emissions are primarily a result of heavy reliance on fossil fuels for power, half of which comes from coal.¹ The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the McKinsey Global Research Institute report that construction and renovation of buildings has one of the largest packages of potential environmental and economic benefits.²

U.S. CO2 Emissions by Sector

Simple improvements, such as adding insulation, switching to more efficient lighting, caulking leaks to prevent the loss of heating and cooling, and installing more energy-efficient windows and doors could cut 70 percent of building emissions.³ So many homes and office buildings could be more energy efficient. The question is, where to begin?

One starting point is government buildings, including nearly 100,000 public school buildings around the country and 6.6 billion square feet of space.⁴ This is a good place to start for several reasons. Once a renovation is complete, energy savings could be promptly spent on books, teachers and equipment. One could imagine schools integrating the renovation work into lessons about climate change. Instead of the work being done around the students as they learn, it could be put right into the curriculum and used to help connect one of the biggest issues of our time with what is happening right there at the school.

Another place to focus efforts is public housing. Public housing accounts for 14 percent of all rental-housing stock in the United States. There are 4.75 million units of federally subsidized, affordable rental housing, most of which were built before 1970.⁵ According to a study by the Government Accountability Office, renovations costing as little as $2,500 to $5,000 per unit could improve the units’ energy efficiency by 25-40 percent.⁶ The savings would begin accruing instantly. In 2007, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spent more than $4 billion on energy costs. Renovations would mean at least $1 billion in savings per year, possibly more.⁷

Under the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, private owners of HUD-assisted housing must “to the greatest extent possible, provide job training, employment, and contract opportunities for low- or very-low income residents in connection with projects and activities in their neighborhoods.”⁸ Renovations would provide an excellent opportunity to create jobs for young people like DeCario Whitfield. Jobs are scarce in poor urban neighborhoods with high percentages of public housing. The renovation work could provide residents with income and a set of skills to apply far outside their own neighborhoods

Because public housing makes up a large share of all rental housing, a government investment like this could be the catalyst of much greater private investments. “HUD affects a sufficiently large number of units to produce demand for workers and products on a scale to stimulate development of a green renovation industry,” says housing policy expert David Abromowitz. Workers with these green skills would be in demand because of their experience with renovating public housing.

It would be possible to renovate all old buildings to be carbon-neutral within the next couple of decades.⁹ But this won’t happen without the creation of millions of additional jobs to do so. Construction jobs, green or not, tend to pay higher wages than people with the same amount of education can find in other industries. In the construction sector, workers with more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree can earn middle-class incomes. See the figure below.

Jobs At-A-Glance: Energy Efficiency

Issues