Real Estate Roundtable Writes to Bush on Energy Conservation

WASHINGTON, DC-In a letter to President Bush, the Real Estate Roundtable has called on the White House to look to the real estate industry’s successes in facilitating energy efficiency in order to further promote the conservation of energy on a national level. An attachment to the letter, which refers to the President’s action on the energy issue over the last few months, contained RER’s “Energy Accomplishments and Trends,” a list detailing the successful conservation efforts in nearly all areas of the real estate industry.

In August, the president signed into law the Energy Policy Act of 2005, a $12.3-billion energy bill. He explained that the multi-faceted legislation that he described as an economic bill “sets higher efficiency standards for federal buildings and for household products.” He continued, adding that “it authorizes new funding for research into cutting-edge technologies that will help us do more with less energy.”

And in September Bush instructed agencies to use more products rated by Energy Star, a government-backed program helping businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. Among issues visited in the letter, RER called on the Administration to include more building types covered under the Energy Star program, which presently excludes shopping centers and multifamily properties.