Houston Joins DOE's Better Buildings Challenge
The City of Houston has joined DOE's Better Buildings
Challenge, a public-private partnership that seeks to improve
energy efficiency by 20% by the end of the decade.
Estimated energy demand is charted to grow by almost 50% in the next 20 years.
In 2007, renewable sources of energy accounted for about 7% of total U.S. energy consumption and 9.4% of electricity generation. (Source: EIA)
Public policies such as appliance and vehicle efficiency standards and building codes are responsible for at least 20% of the improvement in the US's energy intensity--energy use per unit of GDP. (Source: Institute for 21st Century Energy)
Fossil fuels provide more than 85% of all the energy consumed in the US, nearly two-thirds of our electricity, and virtually all of our transportation fuels. (Source: DOE)
Today’s challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while meeting the country’s steadily rising demand for electricity make it essential for legislatures and public utility commissions to shift their focus toward mechanisms that make demand reduction as profitable for utilities as increasing supply. (Source: Institute for 21st Century Energy)
