Photo by Carol McCracken

By Carol McCracken

With the green East End Community School in the background, members of Environment Maine called a press conference earlier today to remind the public of the many reasons why Portland needs to support green policies. Representing the non-profit was Katie Kokkinos, environmental advocate. Joining Katie was Councilor David Marshall from the West End of Portland. (The councilor donned a green cap and green shirt!)

“We want to remind people that America is consuming far too much energy and is over reliant on dirty, polluting sources,” said Katie. “We have a huge opportunity to improve our energy efficiency by upgrading our buildings. And in doing so, reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and improve our economy.”

“A comprehensive plan to make our nation’s buildings more efficient by 2030 could save enough energy to power all of our nation’s cars, homes and businesses for a year and a half while saving Americans more than $500 billion, according to a new report by Environment Maine. By renovating old buildings and ensuring that new ones use 50 percent less energy within ten years and generate as much energy as they use by 2030, we can cut U.S. global warming emissions by at least 34 percent by 2050,” said a press release from Environment Maine. The name of the report is: “Building A Better Future Moving Toward Zero Pollution With Highly Efficient Homes And Businesses.” It was released last month.

The organization is calling on Representatives Pingree and Michaud to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act which is currently being considered by the House of Representatives. It would promote efficiency in new and existing buildings to complement provisions to require the nation to obtain 25 percent of is electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar power by 2025, to require utilizes to improve energy efficiency by 15 percent by 2020 and to limit global warming emissions to science based levels.

Environment Maine is a state-wide citizen-based environmental advocacy organization with its office in the Old Port.

For more information about this organization or the report referred to above, please visit http://www.EnvironmentMaine.org