Welch touts energy efficiency in Springfield

Investing in cities and towns’ infrastructure, as well as energy efficiency, would help spur the economy as well as create jobs, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Monday.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140401/NEWS02/704019955

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., speaks Monday to the Rotary Club in Springfield. Photo: Susan Smallheer / STAFF PHOTOPublished April 1, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Welch touts energy efficiency in Springfield, Brattleboro By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — Investing in cities and towns’ infrastructure, as well as energy efficiency, would help spur the economy as well as create jobs, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Monday. Welch, speaking at the Rotary Club in Springfield, and earlier in the day at a roundtable of energy experts and contractors about energy efficiency in Brattleboro, said Congress should do more on those key issues. Welch, who before he was elected to Congress in 2006 was a longtime state senator from Windsor County, said that Springfield and other communities would benefit from the government investment. Springfield, once an economic hub for the region with 5,000 jobs in the machine tool industry, is still struggling, Welch said. The middle class is under constant assault, he said, and dreams of owning a home and sending children to college are often the casualties. While the stock market has rebounded in the past five years, and those who can afford to have investments are in better shape than before, the average person doesn’t have that opportunity, he said. Investing in energy efficiency would be doubly valuable because the material and equipment needed for energy efficiency projects are manufactured in the United States, he said. Welch said that Congress, instead of trying 57 different ways to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, should be working on infrastructure and energy efficiency legislation. He said the recent energy efficiency legislation passed by Congress was a “great, great step forward,” and what he said was the first bipartisan legislation in six years. He said that his Vermont constituents tell him time and again — “get something done” rather than succumbing to gridlock. Obamacare will not be repealed, said Welch, but he said it could be improved, and Congress should focus on that point. Earlier in the day, Welch met with a group of green energy advocates and experts in energy efficiency in Brattleboro, for a roundtable discussion. Welch said that the contractors said one way of spurring energy efficiency investment would be to have an energy rating for each home included in a valuation for a mortgage application, and also that energy efficiency be taught in the construction trades in schools. Right now, Welch said, homeowners are often on too-tight of a household budget and can’t afford the renovations that would ultimate save them money.