President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to rework an existing tax deduction for landlords who retrofit their commercial properties to create better incentives for promoting energy efficiency, NBC News reported. The plan, revealed today during a speech at Pennsylvania State University, is part of Obama’s post-State of the Union address tour, piggybacking on his call during the Jan. 25 speech to reduce the nation’s dependence on oil. Today, Obama set a goal of reducing energy use in U.S. commercial properties by 20 percent by the year 2020. [more]

The City Council is funding free energy efficiency upgrades for hundreds of additional New York City homeowners who live in one- to four-family homes, the Daily News reported. Already, 500 New Yorkers have scored the freebie retrofittings, Yesterday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn pledged another $400,000 towards the program, which saves residents an estimated $1,200 annually in energy costs through improvements to their insulation, caulking, pipe wrapping, windows and heating systems. The city is now targeting Jamaica, Queens; Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; West Brighton, Staten Island; and Soundview in the Bronx for the upgrades. [NYDN]
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Deutsche Bank is teaming up with non-profit Community Preservation Corporation to help fund efforts to make New York City apartment buildings more energy efficient. Through CPC’s New York Building Retrofit Program, to which Deutsche Bank has committed $15 million and CPC has committed $25 million of its $150 million to $200 million target, property owners will be able to take advantage of financial incentives and consulting services for going green, with the option to retrofit their buildings as part of a refinancing of their existing mortgage debt. “Our realistic goal is to increase fuel and electrical efficiency of existing apartment buildings by 20 percent or more, reducing a prime source of greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants in our cities,” said Michael Lappin, CPC president and CEO. “We can change the urban landscape by changing the multi-family real estate financing landscape.” In the program’s first year, refinancings and retrofittings are planned for between 1,500 and 2,500 housing units. TRD [more]