--  Implement a federal energy code as a "backstop" if states do not meet

      code targets on their own.

"Buildings are America's largest users -- and wasters -- of energy," noted Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a BEECN founding member organization. "With buildings gobbling up 40 percent of the total energy and more than 70 percent of the electricity consumed in the U.S. and producing 40 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, there is an urgent need to address this unsustainable situation. The good news is that robust building energy codes, applied in all states, provide our most affordable, accessible tool for enhancing national energy security, strengthening our economy, and tackling climate change. In other words, strong codes are a 'win-win-win' for many of our nation's most critical concerns."

BEECN Executive Director Bill Fay observed, "Until we adopt robust building codes across the nation, each new energy inefficient building will be a lost opportunity that will erode our economic and environmental well-being for generations. Affordable solutions are readily at hand and are currently in use by countless American builders, coast-to-coast, who are constructing energy-efficient homes and commercial buildings."

BEECN notes the multiple benefits of strong building codes for all new buildings: