Join the BlueGreen Alliance
Help us identify ways to turn today’s environmental challenges into job-creating and economic opportunities!There is significant potential in the buildings sector to address racial and economic inequality, advance environmental justice, and tackle climate change—all while creating good, union jobs.
The Challenge
The buildings sector represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and globally. In 2021, 13% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions came from direct operational emissions—those associated with the energy used to operate a building and all the equipment inside of it—of the buildings sector, primarily from heating and cooking onsite. When electricity consumed by the end user is factored in, buildings account for 30% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. If you also factor in the emissions created from the manufacturing and transportation of building materials—also known as embodied emissions—the buildings sector represents an even larger piece of the pie.
The buildings sector also represents a significant equity challenge and as such affordable housing is a key pillar of the BlueGreen Alliance’s equity approach. In the United States, people of color are disproportionately impacted by unsafe, hazardous, and energy-inefficient housing and schools. People of color are more likely than white people to live in low-income households and live in high-poverty communities. In addition, they are likely to spend up to half of their income on rent and often spend three times as much on energy as their white counterparts. This energy burden is in part because they are more likely to live in older, less efficient housing resulting in higher energy bills.
Additionally, schools have a unique set of financial challenges that often result in delays in addressing aging infrastructure. Public school buildings are estimated to have a cumulative $270 billion in deferred maintenance costs. In addition to this backlog of capital repairs in many public schools, additional funding is needed to remove legacy toxins, such as PCBs, lead, and asbestos from tens of thousands of older school buildings.
The Opportunity
he buildings sector not only represents an opportunity to drive down emissions and reduce pollution, but also to improve health and equity outcomes and create good jobs. The BlueGreen Alliance’s Better Buildings Approach is a framework for seizing these opportunities by following three guiding principles.
A Better Building:
- Is energy efficient, healthy, and climate resilient.
- Is designed with equity and high-road labor standards.
- Utilizes construction materials that are healthy, made in the United States, and low-carbon.
Public buildings and Municipal, University, School, and Hospital (MUSH) buildings have an important role to play in our Better Buildings Approach. MUSH buildings have the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions since they represent a large portion of the commercial building stock with roughly 912,000 buildings in the United States. MUSH buildings also tend to be some of the most energy intensive because they tend to be older or historic or—like hospitals—have high electricity demand. One BlueGreen Alliance study—done by the UC Berkeley Labor Center—found that in Minnesota alone, reducing energy use by just 20% through improved efficiency in the MUSH sector would create 15,000 jobs and save $3.1 billion in energy bills.
The Inflation Reduction Act opened up significant pools of federal investment for MUSH buildings including climate grants and green financing from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By introducing “direct pay” for tax-exempt entities the law enables them to access clean energy tax credits. These credits were previously unavailable to organizations that don’t pay taxes—like public schools, non-profit hospitals, and local governments. Now, using direct pay, certain clean energy projects can receive cash reimbursement for tax credits worth up to 50-60% of the total project cost by meeting specific criteria—like using materials made in the United States and meeting labor standards.
There is significant potential in the buildings sector to address racial and economic inequality, advance environmental justice, and tackle climate change—all while creating good, union jobs. This can be done by prioritizing investments in communities that are disproportionately burdened with older, inefficient, and unhealthy buildings and creating targeted job and career opportunities across the energy efficiency sector for disadvantaged workers. As of late 2022, the energy efficiency sector employed over 2.2 million workers and has the potential to create tens of thousands more good jobs in U.S. manufacturing, construction, and professional services.
Key Facts
900,000 Jobs The Inflation Reduction Act’s investments in energy efficiency improvements for homes and offices is estimated to create 900,000 jobs over the next decade. (Source)
50% to 60% Using direct pay, certain clean energy projects—such as solar on hospitals and geothermal for schools—can receive tax credits worth up to 60% of the total project cost by meeting specific criteria—like using materials made in the United States and meeting labor standards. (Source)
$85 billion per year It is estimated that there is a funding shortfall of at least $85 billion for school infrastructure nationwide. (Source)