Clean Energy Bill must be adopted

I want to praise the U.S. Green Building Council's Chicago chapter for paying to retrofit three schools in Illinois to make them sustainable buildings. According to Nicole Milstead's May 5 article, grant will pay to make one suburban school "green."

Because American buildings use energy so inefficiently, efforts like the USGBC's are greatly important. Unfortunately, thousands of Illinois schools will not receive a much-needed retrofitting through this small-scale endeavor. Without outside resources, Illinois's school districts cannot afford the initial investment that will save our schools millions in the long run and reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprints.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act is currently in committee in Congress. This bill, if passed, will go farther than any previous legislation in making public buildings such as schools more efficient. The bill is America's chance to do on a national level what the USGBC is doing for the three Illinois schools. The money saved can be reinvested in students, including textbooks, technology and science labs.

I implore our congressional delegation to vote in favor of this bill, ensuring the concurrent success of our environment and education system.

Mark Warren Combs

Woodstock