Obama urged to back $500 Billion Plan to create Energy efficient Buildings. Is This Essential?

One of the biggest issues that President Barack Obama campaigned on back in 2008 to gain access to the White House was the environment and the need to limit climate change. With the health care reform debate raging it may seem those concerns have been put onto the back burner over the last few months but several groups are urging the President not to forget his campaign promises and back a bill that it is said will aid the economic recovery in general as well as help alleviate the effects of global warming.

The $500 billion bill calls for an overhaul of US buildings to make them more energy efficient. According to the Center for American Progress the proposal would increase the efficiency of 40 percent of the nation's residential and commercial buildings by 2020. Aside from the obvious advantages for the environment in general the project is designed to create 625,000 new jobs and save families between $300 and $1,200 a year in energy costs.

The plan to revamp and refit the buildings, which consume a full 70% of the nation's electricity as well as emitting 40% of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, will be discussed at an energy conference in Las Vegas on Monday.

Returning into the spotlight again will be former President Bill Clinton and his former vice president Al Gore. Fresh off being the center of the release of the imprisoned American journalists Lisa Ling and Euna Lee last week they are both scheduled to speak, along with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and investor T. Boone Pickens.

The event is a joint venture between the Center for American progress and senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who is a native and representative of Nevada. The Senate democrats and the Obama administration are still trying to elicit support for their environmental reforms and the conference is designed to showcase reasonable plans and ideas.

The proposed legislation is designed to help spur the retrofitting of buildings by ensuring easier financing for such projects and help companies needed to make the renovations meet the potential demand for them.

But just like his health care reforms President Obama and his administration still have a fight ahead of them on these kinds of environmental issues. The last time legislation to limit greenhouse gases and control climate change went to the House it fell short, being defeated by a margin of 219-212 in June.