Montgomery County Homes Going Green
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What is currently going on in Montgomery County Maryland Real Estate Market?
There was a public hearing in Montgomery County during January of 2008, to discuss a group of bills which, if passed, would make Montgomery County one of the greenest communities in the United States. The goal of this group of bills is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of Montgomery County homes. Currently there are seven bills that were submitted in November 2007 by Roger Berlin, a council member of Montgomery County. Roger Berlin is also an energy lawyer who during last Spring held this county's first Global Warming summit. The county officials have been long supporters of going green. In 2006, Montgomery County was one of the two jurisdictions within the whole United States to make it mandatory for public and private buildings to meet stern energy conservation standards. Currently this county receives 10% of its energy from wind power and county officials hope that by 2012 this number will double. This is definitely a step in the right direction since in 2006, the Washington Council government found that the Washington area has a larger carbon dioxide output than if you combine several medium sized European countries. What's interesting about this is that the Maryland suburbs produced more carbon dioxide than both the District and Virginia suburbs.
Content of these Green Bills
- One bill would make it mandatory for the county office of Consumer Protection to get the lowest possible rate for gas, electricity, and other forms of energy.
- Another proposed bill would make it a requirementfor you to get an energy audit before selling your single family residence.
- a third bill is attempting to create a timeline, that would include a county wide goal of reducing Greenhouse gas emissions.
Roger Berlin's future goal for Green Energy
Roger Berlin is a large advocate about global warming; he would like these bills to only be a starting point. He also wants to investigate the possibility of changing the fuel energy tax to a carbon tax. His reasoning is that it would reward those who use environmentally friendly energy sources by giving them a break on their taxes. Another proposal that Mr. Berlin is working on will reward individuals who decide to use solar power, wind power, or other green energy by giving them either a tax credit or rewarding them with low interest bearing loans.
