Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed important energy efficiency legislation that will make common appliances more efficient and closed the loop on devices not covered under Federal laws.
The bill was passed unanimously by the House on November 1st and by the Senate on November 15th. Massachusetts is the first state to update energy efficiency standards for furnaces and boilers, one of a home’s biggest energy users. Environmental and consumer advocates hailed the state’s action.
“Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest, cleanest way to start solving our energy problems,” said Frank Gorke, Energy Advocate for MASSPIRG. “All of the legislators involved deserve thanks for their foresight and leadership in passing this important energy- and money-saving measure, especially Energy Committee Chairmen Brian Dempsey and Michael Morrissey, Speaker DiMasi and Senate President Travaglini, and the bill’s original sponsors, Senator Robert O’Leary and Representative Matt Patrick. And we thank Gov. Mitt Romney for acting to sign the bill into law.”
The law will make home furnaces and boilers, laptop power cords, and several other products more energy efficient, cutting energy bills in the commonwealth by at least $1 billion between now and 2030. The bill would also reduce air pollution from coal and oil fired power plants, and has support from two of the region’s biggest utilities, Massachusetts Electric and KeySpan.
The law sets minimum efficiency standards for the covered products. Currently there are federal efficiency standards for a number of products on the market, like refrigerators and residential air conditioners. But the federal standard-setting program at the U.S. Department of Energy has fallen more than a decade behind key legal deadlines, so several states are taking the lead and passing bills that would set state appliance efficiency standards to guarantee residents will save money on their electricity bills.
For four of the products?laptop power cords, utility transformers, reflector lamps and metal halide lamp fixtures?there is no federal standard, so the state is filling a void left by the federal government. For the two biggest energy users in the package?home furnaces and boilers?there is an outdated, warm-state standard that the state is seeking to update. Because of the existing federal standard, Massachusetts officials will begin a process early next year to seek a waiver of federal preemption from officials at the US Department of Energy. That waiver would allow the updated, cold-state standard to go into effect.
“This law fixes a big hole in federal energy policy,” added Gorke. “The existing federal energy standard dates to 1987, and it is a warm-state standard?okay for Alabama, but not for Massachusetts. We are now saying we want to tap existing efficiency technologies to deliver energy bill savings to Massachusetts residents.”
Loading...