The Green Roofing Energy Efficiency Tax Act, March 2009
Bipartisan legislation to create "green" jobs and protect the environment!
H.R. 426, Green Roofing Energy Efficiency Tax Act (GREETA) will immediately begin
generating new "green-collar" jobs in the U.S. manufacturing and construction industries
while also helping to conserve energy and enhance the environment by reducing carbon
emissions. This common-sense investment in the emerging "green" building sector
will result in more "boots on the roof" within days of enactment to help jump-start
our economy.
By accelerating demand for technologically advanced "green" roof systems, GREETA
will:
- Create 40,000 new "green" jobs among roofing manufacturers and contractors
- Add $1 billion of taxable annual revenue from the roofing industry
- Reduce carbon emissions by more than 20 million pounds annually
- Reduce U.S. energy consumption by 13.3 million kilowatt hours annually
- Save small businesses billions of dollars through a simpler and more equitable system
of taxation and lower energy costs
GREETA, introduced by Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) and Wally Herger (R-Calif.), is a bipartisan
solution to a problem that restricts the movement toward energy-efficient roofing
products in the commercial building sector, a major source of carbon emissions.
The problem is the Internal Revenue Code, which requires that commercial roofs be
depreciated over a 39-year schedule even though a study by Ducker Worldwide, a leading
industrial research firm, found that the average life span of a commercial roof
is only 17.5 years. This disparity is a major disincentive for building owners to
replace older failing roofs with new green roof systems.
GREETA will rectify this problem by allowing building owners to use a realistic
20-year depreciation schedule for roof systems that meet the benchmark ASHRAE 90.1
energy-efficiency standard (set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating
and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc.).
GREETA has the support of businesses, associations and organized labor, including
the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers and the AFL-CIO Building
and Construction Trades Department. For more information, please contact NRCA's
Duane Musser at (202) 546-7584 or
dmusser@nrca.net.
(March 2009)