HOME STAR - Background

Background

In late 2009 there was a broad perception that the United States economy was beginning to recover from the Late-2000s recession. There was a broad perception that government spending authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 had contributed to the recovery, and some desire for the government to do more to encourage job growth and a faster recovery.

In mid-November former president Bill Clinton, and John Doerr of Barack Obama's President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, proposed different versions of an economic stimulus program by which the government would offer tax incentives to encourage people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Doerr, in public speeches, called the proposal "cash for caulkers". Separately U.S. Representative Peter Welch proposed a system of energy rebates to Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s Chief of Staff. Obama, in turn, proposed the idea as part of a larger new stimulus program, at a speech at the Brookings Institution on December 8, 2009.

The stated goals of the proposed program are to reduce pollution, particularly greenhouse gasses, by reducing household energy use, to save consumers money in the long term through lower power bills, and to stimulate American businesses through the money spent on appliances, materials, and installation. Improving the energy efficiency of "fixed infrastructure", which accounts for approximately 40% of all energy use in the United States, is considered the "low hanging fruit" of energy conservation - a step that achieves results relatively inexpensively and does not require any new technologies or changes to production or consumption methods.

The name "Homestar" is a reference to the popular energy star electronic device efficiency rating system, and the nickname "Cash for Caulkers" is a play on the earlier cash for clunkers automobile trade-in incentive.