During a recent trip to a Cree Inc’s LED factory in North Carolina, President Obama took the time to talk about the importance of clean energy, greener practices and the positive effect that environmentally-friendly innovations have on our economy.
Cree is a good example. It’s a company that makes energy-efficient lighting and is a rare example of a business that’s flourished during the recession. No doubt it has been bolstered by $39 million in tax credits for manufacturing cleantech, the company’s created 750 jobs. And jobs are exactly what our troubled economy needs.
While at Cree, Obama also introduced the Jobs and Competitiveness Committee and discussed some of the plans it has come up with to accelerate job growth in the United States. These include training workers for open jobs, simplifying permitting to kick start construction projects, putting construction workers back on the job, helping small businesses get loans and making it easier for people to visit the US, thus boosting the travel and tourism industry.
The plans are likely to be bolstered by the government’s current push for better environmental practices. For example, the Better Buildings Initiative, announced back in February, aims to make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient over the next decade. There are a lot of buildings that could be greener, which means there should be plenty of upgrade projects available to construction companies.
This shows there are strong incentives for companies to go green. As a green company ourselves, it’s hugely gratifying for us at The Refinishing Touch to see strong, encouragement for environmental practices. After all, for years we’ve played a role in helping a business or building become more environmentally friendly by providing a greener alternative to traditional furniture manufacturing.
Hopefully these new plans will succeed. New jobs and a greener America sounds like a win-win situation to us.
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