Chicago-based facility remains open; Serious and Union partner on exploring options for the plant

Serious Energy and UE (United Electrical Workers Union) Local 1110 have reached an agreement to resolve yesterdays’ situation at the Chicago-based window facility. Members of the press received incomplete and incorrect information that Serious Energy would be closing the facility immediately. The Chicago plant remains open at this time, and the parties are working together to find a new owner if possible and explore all other options. Both UE and Serious Energy apologize for any resulting confusion.

Energy efficiency - done as a comprehensive upgrade service - can pay for itself. At the K-12 level some projects have been cash-flow positive, adding to discretionary funds.

Yesterday, Serious Energy's CEO Kevin Surace spoke at The MIT Club of Northern California. Among other things, Kevin described the idea of bringing a high-tech “walk through walls” mentality to the building materials industry. The goal?:  to challenge the industry with breakthrough innovative technology.

Note: This is the full presentation. Please be patient while it loads and progressively streams.

While technological breakthroughs have helped create the green and clean market, financial programs have paved the way for their adoption. Solar exploded after solar leasing. Car networks, a la ZipCar, seem destined to become the way most Americans will initially experience electric cars.

And economic solutions are having a big impact in energy efficiency and green building. Programs such as Serious Solutions that deliver an end-to-end comprehensive building upgrade service at no upfront cost to building owners, are "genius" said David Pogue, the National Director of Sustainability at CBRE during a panel discussion on green building and efficiency finance sponsored by Wells Fargo in Palo Alto this week. "The technology has been there but no one has had the guts to do it," he continued.

NYC neighborhoods have some of the smallest per capita carbon footprints in the country -- and they do it just by living smaller, living closer and driving less.  It’s just one more thing that New Yorkers can feel superior about. However, they’re not gloating – they’re acting. The city is listening to all the smart people that comprise the Urban Green Council, the New York Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and is enacting Zone Green, “the most comprehensive effort of any U.S. city to sweep aside zoning obstacles to the construction and retrofitting of green buildings.”

Kevin Surace is the CEO of Serious Energy, and he's also the one of the best speakers in the country when it comes to detailing the opportunities created through energy efficiency. Energy efficient buildings consume less energy, which means lower power bills, which means cleaner air and less demand for burning coal or natural gas.

Green buildings also achieve higher rental and resale values, creating money in a relatively frictionless way, and put assembly line employees, contractors, electricians, and architects to work. It's a virtuous cycle if there ever was one.

But it's tough to do the performance justice in words. So here you can find some of his most recent speeches and press interviews.

If you are in real estate, you already know new building and housing starts are down. Now, the AIA has put some numbers around it. A new report shows that construction spending is down 27 percent since 2008, a loss of $300 billion in economic activity. Leanne Tobias at Greenbiz writes:

"As reported in a new study by the American Institute of Architects, construction spending in the U.S. has declined by 27 percent since 2008, an economic loss of close to $300 billion. (An additional $470 billion in construction-related spending also has been lost.) Private construction projects have been particularly hard hit, declining by more than a third, while public construction is down roughly 10 percent.

The goal: To offer zero-cost upgrades to commercial buildings by reducing energy consumption

Sunnyvale, CA - December 2, 2011 - Serious Energy Inc., a leader in energy efficiency solutions that increase the value of buildings, is proud to announce that it is a founding Financial Ally of the Better Buildings Challenge, an initiative to make America’s buildings 20 percent more efficient over the next decade, reducing energy costs for American businesses by nearly $40 billion. Serious Energy offers building upgrades without any up-front cost, with guaranteed reductions in the energy bill ranging from 10-30%.

President Obama announced the challenge today at the White House, which will involve $4 billion in investments in upgrades to federal and private sector buildings over the next two years.

If you needed more convincing that green, energy efficient buildings save money and increase the value of real estate, here is a report from Pacific Northwest National Labs.

Researchers at the lab examined 22 buildings owned by the General Services Administration and found that aggregate operation costs, on average, were 19 percent lower than normal. Carbon dioxide emissions were also 34 percent lower, a big consideration in Europe, Australia, California and soon other areas that have carbon regulations. Your building mints energy credits while you snooze.

TEDxHarkerSchool was held in San Jose, CA, on October 22nd, 2011. The event "focused on fostering youth entrepreneurship through inspiration and learning from successful entrepreneurs." Our CEO, Kevin Surace, was on hand to inspire and instruct. His major takeaway? Well, to paraphrase the famous Platonic quote, the dramatic rise in global CO2 levels is now the mother of all re-invention.