Citizen for Saving Our Environment, Economy, Energy, & Money

SEE (Super Energy Efficient) housing is a very important concept for everyone to understand. Such homes go way beyond the National Building Code recommended insulation standards (that vary for different zones in the U.S.) They are also at the extreme end of energy efficiency, as supported by the Energy Star Housing Program. SEE standards can easily be adapted for new construction as well as for renovating older existing homes. Virtually every home in the U.S. can become an SEE home. Adopting this single concept alone can cut total U.S. energy use by more than 20% - - TWENTY PERCENT. This is ten times more than the limited potential of any new Alaskan oil fields and can begin producing energy savings within a matter of months.

The advantages of SEE housing are broad and will benefit everyone in some fashion. Individual buyers/owners of SEE homes will find they have a lower cost of home ownership (principal/interest/taxes plus energy costs) than if they had the same home built as a non-SEE structure - - ever more so as energy prices rise.

The rest of us will all benefit from 1) less pollution, 2) lower energy costs, as less energy use will mean lower prices, and 3) a much sounder U.S. economy - - in the short-term as well as long-term. In fact, converting older housing to SEE standards will begin a whole new industry in the U.S. - - SEE remodeling. As such, it will get our housing industry back on line and build up our manufacturing base - - an area of the U.S. economy that has constantly been exported. Converting to SEE housing will add well-paying “non-exportable“ jobs to the construction, distribution, and manufacturing sectors. These jobs will also be spread evenly throughout the U.S., wherever there are homes and businesses. This will bolster the U.S. economy, as the effect of every dollar added to the U.S. economy is multiplied by a factor of 10 - - ten. This in tern will also add to Federal Income Tax revenues - - again benefiting all of us.

The next question of any doubters is who will pay for the conversion to SEE housing? Well, the “smart” homeowner of course! They will initially pay a higher mortgage payment on their SEE home, but they will be more than reimbursed for those costs by their energy savings plus mortgage tax advantages. Bottom line, money not given to energy companies will pay for SEE housing, while also improving our environment, keeping energy costs down, and have a dramatic effect on improving our economic outlook.

I have proposed a major, yet simple solution to many of the problems that now face our country. What needs to happen now is getting this information out to those within our society that can really help to get this concept going. We need to get politicians on board (from the Federal to the State level), an organization like the Picken’s Plan to support the concept of SEE, and each and every one of us to understand and convince others of the value of SEE housing. All I ask of each and every one of you, that understand what I have said, is please help in any way that you can for all of our sakes?

A discussion forum on SEE is available under the Energy Party group will soon be followed up by a new group - - SEE (Super Energy Efficient) Housing. At that site, I will periodically give detailed support for all that I have briefly touched upon here.