House Passes American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES)

On June 26, the House of Representatives passed the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), a bill to reduce greenhouse gases in the United States 83 percent by 2050. If the bill passes through the Senate, its provisions will have an immediate impact on various sectors of the economy, including the environmental design disciplines. This legislation offers the chance for ACSA members to provide the leadership and expertise required to accomplish the complex research projects on issues of climate change, resource depletion, and energy security.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act includes several initiatives and provisions that will benefit directly from the research and expertise of ACSA members, including:

• Energy and Efficiency Centers and Research (Secs. 171-174) provides funding for universities and private research communities via a number of programs that support the development and commercialization of renewable energy, such as the Clean Energy Innovation Centers (section 171) and the Centers for Energy and Environmental Knowledge and Outreach (section 173).

• Building Retrofit Program (Sec. 202) which aims to develop standards for national energy and environmental retrofitting policies for residential and nonresidential buildings.

• Green Resources for Energy Efficient Neighborhoods Act (Secs. 281-299) includes provisions such as energy efficiency demonstration projects for HUD-assisted multi-family housing projects.

• Clean Energy Curriculum Development Grants (Sec. 421) will award competitive grants to partnerships for the creation of curricula “focused on emerging careers and jobs in the fields of clean energy, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation.”

• The bill also provides numerous opportunities for product and appliance research, such as water efficiency and continued review of product standards and rating systems.

The bill also stipulates that every four years the National Academy of Sciences will submit a report to Congress that includes “a review of the most recent reports and recommendations and an analysis of technologies to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.” “The American Clean Energy and Security Act offers architecture schools an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the relevance of our discipline in helping the country address its environmental challenges in a holistic way. I hope as many ACSA schools as possible can pursue the funding available through this legislation” urges ACSA President, Tom Fisher.

ACSA is committed to achieving the goals set forth by the climate and energy bill and we need your continued support and participation. Please contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to support this crucial energy legislation. As Nobel laureate Al Gore wrote on his blog concerning the urgency of this bill, “there is no backup plan.”