Proposed Bill Addresses Energy Efficiency
A bipartisan bill aimed at increasing the energy efficiency of appliances, buildings and vehicles and permanently authorizing the Energy Savings Performance Contracting program (ESPC) is headed for a vote by the U.S. Senate in coming weeks.
A bipartisan bill aimed at increasing the energy efficiency of appliances, buildings and vehicles and permanently authorizing the Energy Savings Performance Contracting program (ESPC) is headed for a vote by the U.S. Senate in coming weeks.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s bipartisan energy bill would make important strides towards increasing the nation’s energy efficiency, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.
The bill was developed by Sens. Byron Dorgan and Larry Craig and authorize a commercial building initiative — a new research, development, and deployment program to develop “zero-energy” commercial buildings.
The bill would permanently authorize the ESPC program, which allows private-sector financing of energy-efficiency upgrades to federal buildings. The program operates at no cost to taxpayers, with contractors paid with the money saved from reduced building energy costs.
The bill would codify targets from a recent Executive Order requiring a 30 percent reduction in energy use in existing federal buildings by 2015 and require new federal buildings to meet standards for reducing fossil fuel use, with the eventual goal of eliminating fossil fuel consumption in new buildings by 2030.
The bill would also set efficiency standards for refrigerators, clothes washers and other residential appliances, and set aggressive national goals for reducing gasoline use by 20 percent by 2017.
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