New Middle Class Task Force to Make Green Jobs and Green Buildings National Priorities

Send Vice President Biden and the other members of the Middle Class Task Force your ideas about creating green jobs and making buildings more energy efficient.

President Barack Obama announced today the formation of a Task Force to strengthen the American middle class.  As Vice President Joe Biden, a member of the group, describes the task force on the White House website, “This task force will be an important vehicle to assess new and existing policies across the board and determine if they are helping or hurting the middle class.  It is our charge to get the middle class - the backbone of this country - up and running again.”

First on the agenda for the task force is the creation of green jobs and the ways home energy efficiency can both save homeowners’ money and create green jobs that cannot be outsourced.  From the White House:  “If we create jobs that aim to reduce your energy costs - like your electric bill and your home heating bill - that means you have more disposable income for other things. Creating more green jobs has multiple benefits.  It helps the economy as a whole; it helps our environment; and it will save you money.”

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By tying green building to the middle class, President Obama is trying to kill three birds with one stone.   An emphasis on retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient will create green jobs, will significantly lower energy bills, and will reduce the strain on the nation’s energy grid, effectively reducing our demand for new (mainly coal burning) power plants.

Think you have a good idea about greening homes?  Want more emphasis on sustainability and indoor air quality?  Before the first meeting, you have an opportunity to offer your own ideas to the task force by filling out a form here.

Photo credit:  stock.xchng

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