Business View Magazine | February 2019

as if the opportunities were there all along: • We have more than 50,000 workers and 1,500 companies in our industry. We’re the largest sector of the state’s clean energy economy by companies, revenue, and jobs, and a major em- ployer of residential and commercial construc- tion subcontractors (if you aren’t with me yet, think insulation). • Last summer,we found a 16.8% potential for North Carolina to increase its usage of building energy efficiency. Doing so would double our jobs and increase our state GDP contribution from 2.9% to 4.4%. • Our same study determined that the amount of carbon emission reductions we’d see through 10 years of building energy efficiency invest- ment would take the equivalent of 1,826 wind turbines (North Carolina has 104 right now). • More than 30% of new homes in North Carolina are rated for energy efficiency and more than 45 unique programs exist to rate, certify, or verify a home or building for various levels of energy efficiency, green building, and high performance construction. • A year ago, our first-of-its-kind market report identified a 9.5% price premium for high perfor- 170