The energy consumption of our nation's large buildings is inextricably linked to the talent, training, and hard work of building operators. Teaching our building operators to maintain our large structures is the highest-impact way to address the climate crisis, at the lowest cost.

The Urban Green Council (United States Green Building Council of New York) and SEIU Local 32BJ have released a report detailing the essential role that building workers play in improving energy efficiency and discuss how 32BJ's training initiative will help New York City's building superintendents go green (previously profiled on SEIU's Blog here).

"A Blueprint for Greening New York City's Buildings" addresses how buildings fit into our national effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the importance of operations and maintenance (O&M) in building energy efficiency and the role that building operators have on ensuring that building's receive energy energy efficient O&M. SEIU 32BJ is leading the initiative to train New York City's building superintendents. "By working together, 32BJ and New York's building owners have put into place a smart, practical and effective way to help make the Big Apple green. One Year, One Thousand Green Supers provides a low-cost way to make our buildings more energy and cost efficient, and our environment cleaner, all while saving our city millions of dollars," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

It's long been known that O&M plays an important role in building energy use. Studies have shown that simply operating and maintaining an existing building properly can reduce a building's energy use by 10 percent, without any major retrofits such as installing new windows, a new boiler, or any new insulation. Ten percent may not sound like much--so let's put that number into perspective: if all of New York City's buildings received energy efficiency O&M, the savings in energy costs to the city would be $230 million dollars. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would equal the equivalent of taking 150,000 cars off the road.

Equally important is the role that a building operator plays in maximizing the benefits of building retrofits. When a building owner makes the decision to retrofit their building, they are looking to save money by investing in technology that reduces energy use. However, without energy-efficient O&M, the expected savings of building retrofits often fail to materialize.

In one example of this, a 34 unit residential building in Brooklyn, NY performed a series of retrofit--including the installation of a new burner for the boiler, insulation, EnergyStar refrigerators, and several other improvements.The entire project was projected to reduce fuel use by 58 percent, but in reality, total fuel use increased by 47 percent! Upon inspection, it was discovered that improper O&M was the culprit responsible for the increase in fuel use. No one working in the building had been trained to use the new technology and consequently, CFL light bulbs had been incorrectly replaced with incandescent bulbs, EnergyStar appliances mistakenly were removed and low-flow water fixtures were missing.

See the full report "1 Year: 1,000 Green Superintendents" here.

Mac users out there are feeling very "green" right now, if word has reached them that Apple has become the newest company to join the hasty exodus from corporate front group U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The computer software company announced their exit from the corporate front group today over their climate change policies in a letter from Apple Government Affairs VP Catherine A. Novell to U.S. Chamber President Thomas J. Donohue.

"We strongly object to the chamber's recent comments opposing the E.P.A.'s effort to limit greenhouse gases.

"Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us in this effort."

Although the Environmental Protection Agency and most climate scientists agree that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the Earth, the Chamber of Commerce begs to differ. They've opposed curbs on greenhouse gas pollution, via either cap-and-trade or mandates under the Clean Air Act. It's likely Apple's reasons for ditching the Chamber also include the group's recent call for a "21st century version of the Scopes Monkey Trial" to determine if global warming was real-- equating climate change with creationism.

The U.S. Chamber of Congress has served as a unifying agent for three major energy companies, Nike and now Apple, in the ever-growing list of companies who don't share their out-of-touch policies that favor Wall Street and greedy CEOs. Check out Progress Media's new video painting a picture of the business backlash against the U.S. Chamber:

The extremist views of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce leave it far outside the mainstream.  Your senators need to hear from you: don't listen to the greedy CEOs at the U.S. Chamber. Click here to sign the petition.

The last one to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, please turn off the lights.

In the last week, three major energy companies have quit the U.S. Chamber. And just today, Nike left its role on the U.S. Chamber's Board.

The exodus from the corporate front group is taking place because of its extreme views on issues like climate change, health care reform, financial regulations, and labor law reform. We must use this opportunity to further isolate the U.S. Chamber as an out-of-touch outfit that only serves the interest of a handful of greedy CEOs.

Sign the petition to your senators: listen to working people, not the greedy CEOs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

From health care and financial reform, to Employee Free Choice and climate change, the U.S. Chamber's extremism leaves it far outside the mainstream.

Want to know just how wacko the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is? Here's just a couple examples:

• An official from the U.S. Chamber called for a "21st century version of the Scopes Monkey Trial" to determine if global warming was real - equating climate change with creationism.
  
• The U.S. Chamber admitted to using money from bailed out companies to fund its campaigns against working people and the Employee Free Choice Act. This is billions that came from your tax dollars.
  
• Declaring pregnancy to be a "voluntary condition," the U.S. Chamber opposed a 1978 law that prohibited discrimination against pregnant women.

The U.S. Chamber can't be taken seriously. While it purports to represent Main Street businesses, the U.S. Chamber's true interests lie with Wall Street and greedy CEOs.

Your senators need to know this - the corporate front group is in Congress every day, lobbying for its extremist positions. They need to be immediately discredited.

Sign the petition to the Senate now: don't listen to the extremist U.S. Chamber of Commerce on any issue.

Thanks for doing your part to tell the truth about the U.S. Chamber. With your help, we'll make sure they're the loneliest front group in Washington.

A new coalition unveiled yesterday is calling out members of Congress who voted "no" on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The coalition, Clean Energy Works, brings together environmental and religious organizations, business groups, grassroots activists, SEIU and other labor unions--63 groups in all--to push for legislative action on global warming this year and combat the attacks against climate action.

Accompanying the launch of the coalition is a humorous campaign website that's slightly reminiscent of Geico's caveman advertising concept (minus the tacky factor). CongressmanCaveman.com aims to target select members of Congress who voted "no" on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Dubbing Rep. Thaddeius McCotter, Rep. Frank Wolf, Rep. John Shimkus and Rep. Roy Blunt the "members of the Caveman Energy Caucus;" the coalition's additional targets in the coming weeks on the site will include more than a dozen moderate Democrats and Republicans such as Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and John McCain of Arizona.

The campaign website also showcases a YouTube video ("Caveman Solar Panel Smackdown!") with a caption that reads "I know some people don't want clean energy, but I can't believe what happened the day we tried to install solar panels..."

Watch it here:

In late June, the House of Representatives passed a landmark bill putting caps on the emissions that cause global warming. The Senate is expected to take up the measure in late September or October, and a large aim of Clean Energy Works will be targeting 28 midwestern, western and southern states with field staff, a lobbying campaign, and TV, radio and online ads to push for Waxman-Markey bill.

"Millions of Americans want more clean energy jobs, less pollution, and greater national security," Clean Energy Works communications director David Di Martino tells Politico. "We send a billion dollars a day overseas to pay for our oil. It's time to invest that money here - in secure, renewable energy sources that are made in America, provide jobs for Americans and work for America."

Want to help? Click here send a message to the Senate supporting comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.

>> Follow Clean Energy Works on Twitter here.
>> Become a fan of on Facebook here.

Buildings in the United States consume more energy than any other sector of the economy, including transportation or industry. In New York City this problem is especially pronounced, where buildings are responsible for 66 percent of total energy use and 77 percent of city greenhouse gas emissions^[1]. New York City residents also spend $13.4 billion on energy for their buildings, energy that is often wasted on inefficient or improperly maintained equipment.

The benefits of green buildings cannot be overstated--and one of the most cost-effective ways to "green" a building is to ensure that it has a knowledgeable and well-trained workforce. SEIU 32BJ's Training Fund has developed the first-ever Green Buildings Initiative to train building superintendents in the latest, state-of-the-art, best practices in energy efficiency.

To help foster a greener New York City, 32BJ's initiative aims to train 1,000 Green Superintendents in the 2009-2010 school year.

There is no other individual who can contribute more to the long-term greenness of a large multi-family building than the superintendent. Green supers manage the day-to-day operations and maintenance (O&M) of their building, an absolutely critical--though often overlooked--component of an efficient building. Take replacing light bulbs, for example. Did you know swapping out a single old fashioned fluorescent lighting fixture with a similar high-efficiency fixtures can save upwards of $130 per year?^[2] Studies have shown that simply performing optimal O&M can reduce a buildings' energy usage by 10 percent.

Unfortunately, over the last couple of decades the job duties of the superintendent have not changed all that much, despite the rising cost of energy and the solidified scientific consensus surrounding climate change. The 32BJ Training Fund's 1,000 Green Supers program is looking to change that and push an entire industry into the 21st century. The 40-hour training program incorporates standards from the Building Performance Institute and the Urban Green Council (USGBC). Students will cover the full range of topics required to operate their buildings in the most efficient way possible, include air sealing, insulation, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water conservation, lighting, appliances, and quantifying energy usage. At the end of the course, superintendents will take written and field tests that will certify them as Multifamily Building Operators by the Building Performance Institute.

The investment required to green our buildings is minuscule compared to payoff. Green buildings provide us that always-elusive win-win situation where we can address the climate crisis and our devastated economy. By greening our city's buildings, we can save money, create jobs, and help clean our environment.

To find out more about 32BJ's Green Buildings Initiative, visit www.1000supers.com or email the 32BJ Training Fund at 1000supers@32bjfunds.com.

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[1] The City of New York, "PlaNYC: Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions", 2008

[2] Calculation based on replacing a 192 Watt F40-T12 (4 lamps, 2 ballasts) fixture with a 112 Watt F32-T8 (4 lamps, 1 ballast) fixture that is on 24 hours per day and costs $0.19/kWh.

Progressive groups and individuals are targeting the U.S. Chamber for its opposition to pretty much anything that makes life even "a little better for working people." Politico reports:

Labor unions and other progressive organizations are taking aim at the nation's premier business lobby: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

One effort is being led by the Service Employees International Union, which is attacking the Chamber's history of opposing legislation aimed at helping the working class. Its campaign has two goals: to counter the Chamber's messages and its motives.

Small business owners spoke out against the U.S. Chambers true motives on climate change with the help of MoveOn.org. Said one:

"The Chamber of Commerce should represent the interests of American business -- not just the interests of a few of its big donors," Joe Guggenheim, owner of a small publishing company and a member of the Chamber, said in his letter to the organization.

Others involved in battling the U.S. Chamber include groups working on reforming both our financial and healthcare systems.

SEIU's Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger sums up the U.S. Chamber's modus operandi:

"Anytime there is a bill that makes things a little better for working people, they are opposed to it. What they are saying today about the [Employee] Free Choice Act is the same thing they said in the 1930s," Burger said. "It was Armageddon then, and it's Armageddon now."

"We want to point out who the Chamber is. It's a small group of people who fund campaigns against working families," Burger said. "This isn't business against workers. This is the Chamber of Commerce against workers."

Be sure to fax your Member of Congress and tell them that the to listen to working people, not the greedy corporations at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

On Friday, Congress took an extraordinary step forward on efforts to curb global warming. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the first-ever bill designed to advance a clean energy economy that creates green jobs, boosts national security and protects our planet. Click here to see the ad that SEIU and coalition groups launched in Capitol Hill publications just last week, urging Congress to pass and strengthen the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES).

Areas of the bill that could still use some strengthening, according to our coalition partner the Blue Green Alliance: key provisions related to the Renewable Electricity Standard, investments in clean energy, energy efficiency, worker training and fair treatment of workers. BGA Executive Director David Foster praised the passing of the legislation:

"The Blue Green Alliance and its labor and environmental partners believe that comprehensive climate change legislation is essential to creating millions of jobs building the clean energy economy, particularly in manufacturing and construction, two industries hard hit by the economic downturn."

Bright Ideas
On Sunday, President Obama sat down with a group of reporters for an in-depth interview about the climate bill and energy, saying that he thinks the clean-energy market is poised for explosive growth. One small thing Americans can do to help conserve energy as our country moves towards enacting stricter energy-efficiency standards? Buy new lightbulbs.

Obama said the Department of Energy is at work on new standards for fluorescent and incandescent lighting. "Now I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and our businesses," Obama said. Read the president's full remarks here. More details on the Waxman-Markey legislation at ThinkProgress's Wonk Room.

To mark the occasion of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Sierra Club President Allison Chin addressed a group of SEIU employees during a lunch lecture on the topics of grassroots activism, the Employee Free Choice Act and working together with labor in the Blue Green Alliance.

Allowing workers a democratic chance to forum unions is an important way to help ensure that that green jobs in the new clean energy economy will also be good family-supporting jobs. Recognizing that protecting workers' rights to organize is critical to the future of our green economy, the Sierra Club has stood with labor in our campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act. "Passing the Employee Free Choice is one of our most important legislative priorities," said Chin. "Because an economy that treats workers fairly is one that is fundamentally better for our planet." Watch Allison speak to learn more about our joint efforts and why a strong labor movement is crucial to a strong environmental movement:

Join the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.

On Friday, four labor unions and two environmental organizations representing six million people announced their support for comprehensive cap-and-trade climate change legislation in 2009. The Blue Green Alliance and its partner organizations said this legislation is an effective way to rapidly put millions of Americans back to work building a clean energy economy and to reduce global warming emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

The Alliance's goal is nothing less than to transform the U.S. economy through global warming solutions, and create millions of family-sustaining green jobs in the clean energy economy. "We have a unique opportunity to be part of the solution and to improve the lives of working people and their families for generations to come," said Gerry Hudson, International Executive Vice President of SEIU. "It is our duty to ensure that legislation develops a cap-and-trade system that connects environmental justice to economic justice in a way that supports communities across America and creates good, green jobs."

The Blue Green Alliance supports a reduction of U.S. emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, and supports a renewed U.S. effort to forge a global treaty to reduce worldwide emissions by 50 percent by that same date. The Alliance also supports complementary regulation, including standards for renewable energy, energy efficiency resources and fuel and appliance efficiency. In addition, climate change legislation should include investments in a wide range of technologies -- including carbon, capture and sequestration technology -- and federal financing for the transition to a clean energy economy. Read the policy statement here.

David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, spoke of the significance of the labor and environmental movements embracing a common vision for the future, saying, "For the first time, a substantial number of unions representing workers across a broad section of the American economy have endorsed the principle that the way out of our current economic turmoil is through major investments in solving global warming."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has promised to introduce climate change legislation by Memorial Day. Tomorrow, he and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will release a draft bill that is predicted to be the centerpiece of the upcoming climate policy debate. President Obama has also expressed his support for Congress to focus its attention on passing cap-and-trade legislation as part of his energy and climate change agenda to move away from polluting energy resources toward cleaner energy sources.

The Blue Green Alliance is a national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. Formed initially by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club in 2006, the organization has recently grown to include SEIU, NRDC, CWA, and LIUNA.

More details here and at www.bluegreenalliance.org.

Foreword: For the second consecutive year, SEIU is participating in the Labor Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, taking place this week in Posnan, Poland. Marrianne McMullen, SEIU's representative to U.S. Labor Delegation, blogs about their work and her experiences (below).

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

By now, the labor delegates staying together at the remote hotel had settled into a routine. It was 8 a.m. so we were gathering for the odd but ample complimentary breakfast buffet. We were fewer today, moving into the last two days of the negotiations. By 8:25 we were hustling out the door to catch the 8:30 U.N. bus to the conference site - an enormous complex of buildings connected by tent-like, heated hallways.

If today is like all other days, we will be in meetings, observing negotiations, and attending panel discussions until about 8 p.m. We'll then go into the downtown for a late dinner, and get back to our hotels between 11 pm and midnight. It's a schedule that is as unsustainable as fossil fuels.

Green Recovery

The Blue Green Alliance press conference is the highest priority for a few of us this morning. This unique group formed initially by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club has recently grown to include the National Resources Defense Council, the Communications Workers of America and SEIU.

Together, the Alliance represents more than 6 million people, and its goal is nothing less than to transform the U.S. economy through global warming solutions.
This expansion of the Blue Green Alliance was announced at the press conference, and details of this unique grouping of unlikely U.S. allies were discussed with the international press. Joining the member groups was Kit Batten of the Center for American Progress, one of the authors of "Green Recovery: A program to create good jobs and start building a low-carbon economy."

"If we invest $100 billion into six green strategies, we project it will create 2 million jobs," said Batten. The six strategies she described were retrofitting buildings, building a "smart" power grid, expanding mass transit, and investment in the renewable energy sources of wind, solar and advanced biofuels.

She and others on the panel described a growing level of political support for a "green recovery." Stimulating demand for wind turbines, other renewable energy equipment, and materials for retrofitting could be the fastest way to revitalize U.S. steel, manufacturing and construction industries. [Full PDF of report here].

A national strategy

Bob Baugh of the AFL-CIO said at several meetings that the United States has been "a country without a clue; a country without a strategy. And we are in need of one."

Similar observations echoed through other discussions. At one side event on jobs in alternative energy, Kaveh Zahedi, of the United Nations Environment Program, said some existing government strategy is bad for both the environment and jobs.
"Governments throughout the world currently give $300 billion per year in government subsidies toward carbon-based fuels," he said. (And that number doesn't include what they spend to protect and defend those fossil fuels.) "If those subsidies were switched to renewable resources, there would be an explosion of jobs," said Zahedi.

"Five hundred million people will join the workforce in the next 10 years," he added. "They shouldn't be doing work that threatens their future and the planet's future."

Future is now

For some working people, the climate-compromised future is now. Angela Lomosi of Nigeria was one of the labor delegates from Africa. She said that climate change is already affecting what land farmers can cultivate on her continent.

"We already have displacement due to climate change," she told the labor delegates at their daily meeting. "With the rains and flooding, farmers can't farm and they are moving their families. And the price of food is soaring. Corn--a staple of our diet-- is now $2 a package, and that's for people who make $1 a day."

It has become clear to those attending the conference that the urgency for effective action on climate change is not reflected in progress at these U.N. negotiations. Before these talks, Poznan was seen as a crucial stepping stone to next year's negotiations in Copenhagen, where the Kyoto protocols will be replaced. Now it's seen as having been more of a rest stop.

But at the very least, we have made progress on our goal as a labor delegation: to make sure the concerns of working people are addressed as part of the final negotiations.

Phillip Pearson of the ITUC referred to the comprehensive "Assembly Document #2008-16" and said, "when you get home, download this document and do a word search for ITUC and labor, and you'll find that we've made major progress in the state of play of this segment of civil society in these negotiations."

U.S. union commitment

And the U.S. delegation has clarified its collective commitment: From the Steelworkers' commitment to clean energy-related manufacturing; to the transportation workers' advocacy for major expansion in public transit; to the farmworkers attention to agriculture and migration impacts; to public employee unions' commitment to public monitoring and accountability for emissions; to SEIU's commitment to green building maintenance and protection of public health.

Each union's potential contribution to addressing climate change added up to a collectively powerful role that labor has to play in this movement. If we needed one more reason why working people, and the planet, need a strong labor movement, we saw it in Pozna.

Foreword: For the second consecutive year, SEIU is participating in the Labor Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, taking place this week in Posnan, Poland. Union representatives from Mexico, India, the U.K., the U.S., Korea, Sierra Leone and elsewhere are making sure that the concerns of and effects on working people the world over are an essential part of every discussion at the conference. Marrianne McMullen, SEIU's representative to U.S. Labor Delegation, blogs about their work and experiences (below).

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Sunday, December 7, 2008

It's 3:30 p.m. in Poznan and we can see the sun already setting through the sheer drapes of the hotel meeting room. More than 90 labor delegates are gathered at this hotel about 12 miles outside of the city. Many more countries are represented now: Nepal, South Africa, Pakistan, Norway, Latvia, Brazil, Holland, Ethiopia.

No formal talks are scheduled for the United Nations Climate Change Conference today, so the labor delegates of the International Trade Union Council are using the day for presentations and discussions.

Foreword: For the second consecutive year, SEIU is participating in the Labor Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, taking place this week in Posnan, Poland. Union representatives from Mexico, India, the U.K., the U.S., Korea, Sierra Leone and elsewhere are making sure that the concerns of and effects on working people the world over are an essential part of every discussion at the conference. Marrianne McMullen, SEIU's representative to U.S. Labor Delegation, blogs about their work and experiences (below).

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Poznan, Poland
Friday, December 5, 2008

More than 20 of us were crowded into the trade union delegation office at the Poznan Convention Center. It was 9 a.m., and time for the daily organizational meeting for the labor delegation at the U.N. Climate Talks in Poland. I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the room dazed by long flights and lack of sleep, and a bit queasy from the Polish staple of boiled sausage.

We were in our small Trade Union Non-Governmental Organization (TUNGO) office because we lost our regular meeting space due to meeting shuffling, a fairly routine event in a conference as sprawling as this one.

Labor union representatives introduced themselves from Peru, Australia, Mexico, India, the U.K., Spain, Belgium, Algeria, Korea, Japan, Sierra Leone --a sort of United Nations of Labor. Together this group painted a too-rarely-seen portrait of a truly global labor movement.

Together we went through that day's 26-page daily program for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Phillip Pearson of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reviewed the delegation's daily goal: to attend all of the meetings and "side events" possible and deliver a strong labor message. From climate change impacts, to green job opportunities, our goal was to always introduce the concerns of and effects on working people in every environmental discussion.

Another task set before the delegates: Each national delegation was to set up meetings with our government delegation leaders. The government delegates are the ones who actually do the negotiating on the climate change agreements. Labor representatives, being from non-governmental organizations, can observe and provide input in open meetings.