Austin mayor encourages small businesses to ‘go green’
In written testimony to Congress, Austin, Texas, Mayor Will Wynn, chairman of the Washington-based U.S. Conference of Mayors Energy Committee, called for federal assistance in encouraging small businesses to take steps to conserve energy. Wynn said the passage of a proposed Energy Efficiency Block Grant (EEBG) program would be one way to help small businesses go green.
Wynn said in his testimony that Austin has implemented several policies aimed at keeping energy costs “stable and low” for small businesses, and providing incentives for small businesses to invest in energy efficiency upgrades to the buildings they occupy. But, he said, cities need federal help to make it easier for the businesses to afford the upgrades. “We need federal policies that will [incentivize] and require lending institutions to make available reasonably priced loans to help [businesses] pay for energy efficiency upgrades,” Wynn said. A greater availability of federal funds, such as the EEBG, would also promote upgrades, he said.
Wynn’s full testimony is available at
www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/wynn.htm