According to Air Conditioning Heating and Refrigeration News, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $6 million investment in energy efficiency. 

This initiative is part of President Obama's effort to cut energy waste and double the energy productivity by 2030. The investment will accelerate energy efficiency in offices, shops, schools and other buildings by reducing pollution, creating jobs and saving money.

"These low-energy building solutions will reduce air pollution and help building owners and operators save money on their operating costs through best practices that can be replicated by others," said the DOE's assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy David Danielson. 

In total, eight separate projects will be awarded a piece of the $6 million and each will demonstrate an approach for improving commercial building energy use by up to 50 percent. Each project is similar in that they will use high-priority tools and technologies.

This initiative could save billions of dollars with investments in cost-effective energy saving technologies. Commercial buildings accounted for about 20 percent of the total of U.S. energy, equal to about 18 quadrillion Btu of energy.

In addition to this latest investment, the DOE is also funding $32 million for solar energy workers and innovations.

The goal of this fund is to decrease the cost of solar changes by developing low-cost solar power as well as increasing access to solar data. $12 million will go toward developing a better trained solar workforce, $15 million to fund new projects focused on concentrating solar power (CSP) collectors and $5 million for greater industry transparency and access to solar energy data.

This is also part of President Obama's initiative to train 75,000 solar workers by 2020 in hopes of increasing the solar power industry as a whole.

To learn more about energy efficiency initiatives or to have an energy audit performed in your home or business, visit our website.