While you may be working to go green and work on saving energy to help keep the environment as healthy as possible, you may be wondering why government officials are not doing the same.  Well, recently it was announced that the U.S. House is undertaking some great measures for saving energy.

It all starts with Representative Peter Welch, who happens to be a democrat from the state of Vermont.  He is a part of the program called the Green the Capitol program.  He recently came out and discussed some of the changes that he has made within his own offices to help save energy and make a difference.  This program has been developed to work on renovating the buildings in the capital to make them greener and more energy efficient.  They are partnering with a private company that is putting the money into these changes, and later the government will pay the amount of money they save back to the company.  Their goal is to reduce the energy use in the House of Representatives by about 50%.

There are many changes that have been made by Representative Welch.  Some of them include going with HVAC efficiencies as well as low flow plumbing.  It is Welch’s office that is the very first one to have these energy efficiency improvements done.  The improvements were designed by the AOC, or Architect of the Capitol.  They work to reduce the water use in the capitol by 32 percent and the use of energy by 23 percent, which definitely will add up over the long term.

Wondering how much this is going to save each year?  It’s a big chunk.  Estimates on these improvements figure that each year the improvements that are going to be made will save $3.4 million dollars in tax payer money.  This is a large amount of money saved that taxpayers should definitely be happy about.

So, do not think you are alone in working to save energy.  There are plans being put in place for the U.S. House.  They are working to make their offices more energy efficient, saving money for you and also saving the environment as well.  Make sure you support your representatives as they work to do this.  Send a letter or call your congressman to let them know that you are in favor of these changes that are taking the capitol building towards an energy saving future that is great for everyone.