Home Building and Residential Energy Efficiency Advisory Panel

http://governor.mo.gov/orders/2009/09-22.htm is a link to the order. I have been appointed to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's Advisory Panel on Home Building and Residential Energy Efficiency and we had our first meeting in Jefferson City yesterday. Click on the image on the right to see the Truman State Office Building where the meeting was held. One can the capitol dome reflected in the glazing and Ralph Bicknese, who recommended me for the panel in the foreground. We are all aware of the urgency of incorporating the highest levels of energy efficiency possible into our building stock and making recommendations for this, in the residential sector, will be part of our group's work. It is important to undertand, also, just how badly the construction sector has been hit by the economic downturn of the last few years. The unemployement rate in the state has grown to 9.3% and in the St. Louis area it is 9.9%. While this is bad enough, in the construction sector it is far worse. I have heard reports that in the St. Louis area the unemployment rate in the construction sector is over 20% and for architects it is a staggering 35% or greater.