“The Energy Efficiency Promotion Act” (S.1115) has been introduced in the US Senate which aims to improve efficiency in vehicles, buildings, consumer appliances and industrial equipment.
The bill is the broadest energy proposal yet to come from the new Democratic-controlled Congress – it seeks to cut America’s gasoline use by 20% over the next decade while providing government loan guarantees to automakers and suppliers that churn out fuel-efficient vehicles.
The legislation targets gasoline demand, which accounts for the biggest part of US petroleum use. Under the bill, the Energy Department would have to come up with a plan to slash gasoline consumption by 20 percent by 2017, 35 percent by 2025 and 45 percent by 2030.
The 20% cut is similar to the Bush energy savings plan, but moves it along quicker by setting reduction goals for the years ahead.
The bill was introduced by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Richard Lugar (R-IN). Other co-sponsors include Sens. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Larry Craig (R-ID), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and John Kerry (D-MA).
The Senate Energy Committee will hold a legislative hearing on S.1115 on April 23.
Other key elements of the bill:
* Promote the development and use of advanced lighting technologies
* Create appliance energy efficiency standards for dishwashers, clothes washers, refrigerators and dehumidifiers, saving consumers US$12 billion annually in energy costs.
* Assist States, local governments and utilities in energy efficiency efforts
* Require the federal government to increase its purchases of renewable electricity to 10 percent of total supply by 2010 and 15 percent by 2015.
* Reduce energy consumption in existing federal buildings by 30 percent by 2015.
* Add US$750 million in government funds to help weatherize low-income family homes with insulation and storm windows.
In the lighting area, the bill states that “national policy can support a rapid substitution of new, energy-efficient light bulbs for the less-efficient products in widespread use” to achieve annual savings of $18 billion and the amount of electricity produced by 80 base load coal-fired power plants.
On the appliance standards alone, the bill would provide the following savings:
Electricity: At least 50 billion kilowatt hours per year, or enough to power roughly 4.8 million typical U.S. households;
Natural gas: 170 million therms per year, or enough to heat about a quarter million typical U.S. homes;
Water: At east 560 million gallons per day, or about 1.3 percent of total daily potable water usage; and
Dollars: More than $12 billion in net present benefits for consumers.
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