President Obama confirms it’s time to save energy during meeting with Mark Andrews
NEWS RELEASE
(BRISBANE, Queensland, 22 March
2010) – What began as a call from the White House led to
Knauf Insulation North America CEO Mark Andrews and Vice-President
of Marketing Joey Viselli flying to Savannah, Georgia to meet with
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday morning, March 2. The White
House reached out to Knauf Insulation in recognition of our strong
advocacy for HOMESTAR and asked that Mark Andrews meet with
President Obama about the pending legislation prior to his
nationally-televised speech on the subject. Joining Mark were four
other key business leaders including Larry Laseter, President of
MASCO Home Services, a loyal Knauf customer.
HOMESTAR is a program designed to create jobs and deliver energy
efficiency across the United States. It will use government rebates
to help American homeowners make energy efficient home improvements
while putting thousands of construction workers back to work.
Mark Andrews was able to personally deliver our message of
support to President Obama, assuring the President that the
insulation industry is solidly behind HOMESTAR. In his meeting with
President Obama, Mark reinforced the message that it’s time to save
energy, and it’s time to put Americans back to work. Mark also
quipped that, as the President had already declared that insulation
was "sexy", now is the time for Americans to embrace and marry it.
In fact, adding insulation is the quickest and easiest way to save
energy, and can reduce homeowner heating and cooling costs by over
20%.
A world leader in energy efficiency
It comes as no surprise that the White House would recognize
Knauf Insulation for our support: "We have been a visible and
effective leader in bringing people together to support the
President’s HOMESTAR initiative by focusing on the need for greater
energy efficiency at the national and local level. For example,
Knauf Insulation led the formation of the Council of the North
American Insulation Manufacturers Association (CNAIMA) to bring the
nation’s major insulation manufacturers together to provide a
single, unified voice to promote energy efficiency", says Joey
Viselli.
Knauf Insulation is also a leading member of several broad-based
groups dedicated to passing HOMESTAR legislation and improving
America’s energy efficiency, including a Founders-level affiliate
of the Alliance to Save Energy and an active supporter of the
Efficiency First HOMESTAR Coalition for energy efficiency and job
creation.
Meeting President Obama is recognition that Knauf Insulation is
fast becoming the world leader in energy efficient systems for
buildings, not just through its products, but by actively driving
for the legislation needed to reduce the energy consumption of
buildings. The meeting is proof that our affiliation with such
groups is making a positive impact and represents just one example
of such active participation which is currently taking place across
regions.
As Mark Andrews summarizes, "Our leadership within these groups,
and through our affiliation with other organizations such as the
Building Energy Efficiency Code Network, the National Association
of States’ Energy Officials, the US Green Building Council, and the
Carbon War Room is focused on driving energy efficiency in
buildings and growing the business for our customers. It’s time to
save energy, and it is clearly our responsibility to make it
happen."
For more information
See the clip on YouTube
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzWcXubIHyk>
or go to:
www.knaufinsulation.us
For more information contact:
Mike Lynam, Knauf Insulation GmbH
Phone: +1 800-825-4434
E-mail: mike.lynam@us.knaufinsulation.com
HOMESTAR
HOMESTAR uses incentives to encourage homeowners to make energy
efficient investments in their homes in return for substantial
government rebates. Homeowners who invest in building insulation,
mechanical systems, energy efficient appliances, and whole-home
energy efficiency retrofits will be eligible for incentives and
rebates.
The programme is currently proposed as a part of the U.S.
Senate’s jobs agenda for America, investing $6 billion in the form
of incentives, matched by private investment, to generate three
million home retrofits and tens of thousands of jobs across the
United States. The President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board has
unanimously recommended HOMESTAR as a strategy for near-term job
creation.
In addition to the economic and environmental savings, the
HOMESTAR program will create jobs. Unemployment in the residential
construction segment stands at 24.7 percent in the U.S. HOMESTAR
will create 168,000 jobs in skilled manufacturing and construction
that can’t be outsourced. "Construction-related manufacturing is
running at less than 65 percent of capacity," says Knauf Insulation
vice-president of marketing Joey Viselli. "Producing these
energy-saving products will re-start factories across the country
and take advantage of capacity that is immediately available while
putting skilled contractors back to work."
Knauf Insulation is a leading global manufacturer of thermal
and acoustical insulations for residential, commercial and
industrial applications. For more information about Knauf
Insulation sales and products, visit
www.knaufinsulation.com.au.