That point was made Monday when Mike Thaman, my blog sponsor's chairman and chief executive officer, participated in an event focused on the future of energy in America. The National Clean Energy Project forum, sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and held in Washington, D.C., gathered government, business, labor and advocacy group leaders to discuss ways of building a clean energy environment. Thaman was among 30 leaders invited to participate in the roundtable discussion.

"We know from our research that less than 25 percent of Americans understand that the single biggest user of energy in our country is residential and commercial buildings," said Thaman. "Forty percent of the energy in our country is used in homes and buildings – 74 percent of the electricity."

Thaman urged the group to create new policy and a public/private partnership. He said new regulations should "establish performance standards for construction; encourage us to get to higher levels of efficiency, and give incentives in existing buildings to get them to higher levels of efficiency."