Casey Pushes Key Senate Committee to Maintain Investment in Philadelphia Energy Project that Has Created Jobs In Region, Become National Model for Energy Efficiency

Washington, DC- Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging that funding for a leading Philadelphia energy efficiency project, the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation, be continued in the fiscal year 2015 (FY2015) budget. The Consortium for Building Energy Innovation, formally known as the Energy Efficiency Hub (EEB), has created jobs in Southeastern Pennsylvania and become a national model for energy efficiency while undergoing reforms to increase the program’s effectiveness. In FY14 the program received $10 million.

“I’m urging the Appropriations Committee to continue investment in this program that has promoted job growth in Southeastern Pennsylvania while serving as a national model for energy efficiency,” Senator Casey said. “Investing in this initiative will help businesses across the country reduce their costs by becoming more energy efficient. I’m hopeful that the Appropriations Committee will continue to support this effort so the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation can continue to innovate and make a nationwide impact.”

The full text of Senator Casey’s letter can be seen below:

Dear Chairwomen, Vice Chairman, and Ranking Member:

As the Subcommittee begins its work on the fiscal year 2015 Energy and Water and Appropriations bill, I would like to express my strong support for the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation. 

Over the last several months, the energy efficient buildings systems research project at the Philadelphia Navy Yard has undergone significant changes in management and scope. The Consortium for Building Energy Innovation has new leadership and has worked in tandem with the Department’s Energy's Building Technology Office to develop mutually agreed upon goals and objectives, narrowing the focus of work to demonstrating technical solutions to retrofit small and medium-sized commercial buildings and transitioning those solutions to market.  In addition, the Consortium management team has incorporated many suggestions from internal and external peer reviews to strengthen operations.

The new streamlined Consortium is comprised of 14 organizations including major research universities and global industrial firms from across the nation includes 80 researchers and graduate students actively working to develop and demonstrate energy efficient strategies for retrofit.  Funding in FY 2015 funding will facilitate:

• Demonstration of high efficiency technologies and design tools at real-world retrofit sites owned by private and public entities with national scalability.
• Collaborations with DOE Laboratories to develop and demonstrate strategies for deployment of the DOE technology portfolio in small and medium scale buildings.
• Development and refinement of retrofit tools built on DOE supported open source models and tailored to small and medium size buildings.
• Utilization of expertise and new building space at Consortium headquarters to provide building operator training and certification programs, building energy benchmarking, and technical advising including energy auditing tools and evaluation of alternative integrated technologies.
• Expansion upon the more than 400 building industry professionals currently using Consortium research results.

As you know, this program received $10 million in FY 2014.  I have been in direct contact with Secretary Moniz about continuation of funding for this initiative and the Department included $10 million for the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation in its FY 2015 budget request.  I strongly urge the subcommittee to include the full $10 million for this important program in FY 2015.  

Thank you for consideration of my views. 

Sincerely,

Robert P. Casey, Jr.
United States Senator