CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the West Virginia Sierra Club are calling on Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to be an “advocate for energy efficiency.”
Those members showed up at the state capitol Monday with a petition signed by 500 residents. Conservation Chair for the West Virginia Chapter at Sierra Club Jim Kotcon said Tomblin’s commitment to energy efficiency would be a great way to save money and create jobs in West Virginia.
“It can’t be outsourced anywhere else, consumers benefit, it conserves resources, it’s difficult to see how anyone could oppose energy efficiency,” Kotcon said.
The Sierra Club said the the state currently has very permissive laws when it comes to energy efficiency. Kotcon said the state should set an example with construction happening in state agencies.
“Much of the actual expense of a new building comes in the years of operating that building, not the initial cost, yet the best time to adopt energy efficiency is during the initial construction of the building,” according to Kotcon.
The Sierra Club said Gov. Tomblin could also make energy efficiency part of the state’s response plan to address the federal EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
“This would be one of the very low-cost ways of actually achieving some of the greenhouse gas reductions that the EPA is asking West Virginia to adopt,” Kotcon said.
The Sierra Club is also calling for Tomblin to appoint advocates for energy efficiency to the state Department of Energy, Public Service Commission and Division of Environmental Protection.