The M Files

This recent clean energy project simply wouldn't have happened without Pennsylvania’s GESA legislation.

The Energy Efficiency Industry is one of the only industries to grow during the recession, hiring people at a time when unemployment seems stubbornly stuck at levels not seen since the early 1980s. According to statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, there are more than 106,000 Pennsylvania jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries.

Energy efficiency is an economic winner. This is not wishful thinking—it’s based on actual market experience.

Currently, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has the opportunity to create 19,000 high-paying jobs and provide $2 billion of upgrades to its state and local government buildings without any tax increases, through a process called energy savings performance contracting.

Under an energy savings performance contract (ESPC), energy service companies provide technical, engineering, and managerial expertise, while private-sector financial institutions fund the retrofit projects. This makes buildings significantly more energy efficient.

The costs of design and installation of new technologies, as well as equipment upgrades, are to be paid back out of the energy savings over the life of the contract—at no net cost to the government.

Every $1 million of ESPC project value is estimated to create 10 direct jobs in engineering, construction, and equipment manufacturing; professions hardest hit in this recession. The multiplier effect of the income created by these direct jobs provides another 10 to 12 imputed jobs per $1 million of project value.

ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING = Jobs Period!  Not maybe, not possibly, but certainty: ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING = Jobs.

This new economic powerhouse is the direct result of innovative public policies like Pennsylvania’s Guaranteed Energy Savings Act (GESA), which enables job creating energy performance contracting. But now, it’s all at risk.

The Corbett Administration is currently evaluating GESA and has suspended any projects currently under development. This has put on hold the proven job creating benefits of the GESA that can continue putting Pennsylvanians to work in this tough economic environment at no expense to the government.

At a time when all policies are being measured against the yardstick of job growth, we encourage Governor Corbett to support GESA and allow energy service companies to get back to business—putting people to work, saving taxpayer money, and reducing energy costs for their customers.