# United States Will save $1.2 trillion by 2020 if we invest in green buildings.

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/02/the-united-states-can-save-1-2-trillion-by-2020-if-we-invest-in-green-buildings/
- Published: 2019-02-17T01:40:04-05:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

It’s official.  The United States WILL save $1.2 trillion in savings. It was first
assumed by 2020 by “investing in [energy efficient](https://greenlivingguy.com/2018/11/most-plus-least-energy-efficient-state-rankings/)
buildings”. That’s according to a new study from [McKinsey](https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/epng/pdfs/unlocking%20energy%20efficiency/us_energy_efficiency_exc_summary.ashx)&
Co. report.  This new report called, “Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy”.
It reports that 900,000 new jobs could be created and 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse
gas could be reduced annually.

The catch before was about $50 billion a year needs to be green buildings over the
next ten years (report 9 years ago)

However, the report adds that if we actually do what they recommend!   Can you say
we are talking about a 23 percent drop in energy consumption!

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) reports that the USGBC estimates
that this reduction is equal to the entire U.S. fleet of passenger cars and light
trucks. More importantly  that’s equal more than 200 million vehicles. Bye.  Most
noteworthy off the road.

Now Fast Forward to 2017 and [GreenBiz](https://www.greenbiz.com/article/citi-expands-market-energy-efficiency)
reporting Citibank seeing the Green!!

Nearly a decade ago, in 2009, McKinsey & Company’s Unlocking Energy Efficiency in
the U.S. Economy report cited a $1.2 trillion energy-savings opportunity in the 
United States alone. This was a financing opportunity of about $520 billion to retrofit
building systems such as lighting, HVAC and windows across millions of properties.

This order of size requires capital-market and institutional investor participation.
But to date, appropriate structures and enough aggregation have been _lacking_. 
Solutions to deploy energy efficiency at scale are urgently needed to discuss climate
change.

Fast-forward to 2017. According to Navigant Research’s report “Energy as a Service,”
the annual global market for energy (or efficiency) as a service expecting NOW to
reach $221.1 billion by 2026. But are the financing options finally in place to 
support a turnkey solution that can be implemented across a broad range of business
sectors?

A recent transaction breakthrough provides some of the essential building blocks.
We need a programmatic, multi-site, multi-state Efficiency Services Agreement (ESA)
for a Fortune 100 company.

In conclusion, Energy Efficiency is a flexible, market-proven solution. In addition,
it is an example that turns kilowatts into “negawatts”. All by financing 100 percent
of the cost of efficiency upgrades and monetizing the energy savings. Finally, a
negawatt is a unit of saved energy.

![author avatar](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/df91669667126e1290c21ee0342c386e2da19d588d4d9ca6560bd82ed59a9641?
s=300&d=monsterid&r=g)

 greenlivingguy

 The Green Living Guy, Seth Leitman is an independent power producer, a green living
expert, and Editor of the McGraw-Hill, TAB Green Guru Guides. Seth is also an Author,
Radio Host, Reporter, Writer and an Environmental Consultant on green living. The
Green Living Guy writes about green living, green lighting, the green guru guides
and more. Seth's books range from: # Build Your Own Electric Vehicle by Bob Brant
and Seth Leitman (2nd and 3rd editions) # Build Your Own Plug-in Hybrid Electric
Vehicle by Seth Leitman # Build Your Own Electric Motorcycle by Carl Vogel # Green
Lighting by Seth Leitman, Brian Clark Howard and Bill Brinsky # Solar Power For 
Your Home by David Findley # Renewable Energies For Your Home by Russel Gehrke #
Do-it-Yourself Home Energy Audits by David Findley # Build Your Own Small Wind Power
System by Brian Clark Howard and Kevin Shea # and more green living books to follow.

 [See Full Bio](https://greenlivingguy.com/author/greenlivingguy/) [  ](https://greenlivingguy.com/author/greenlivingguy/)