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Building on Success: Policies to Reduce Energy Waste in Buildings examines state and federal policies that have reduced energy use in buildings by 10 percent over the past 20 years and recommends more than 40 new policies or changes in policies that will continue the reductions in energy use, air emissions, and America’s energy bills for years to come.
The new report from the Alliance to Save Energy says current building energy codes, appliance standards, and labeling and information programs have been cornerstones of national and state energy policies, and it recommends not only expanding and improving existing programs, but also adding news ones so the country can continue reaping the energy, environmental, and financial benefits.
The report notes that many existing energy-efficiency policies for buildings have not been fully deployed – for example, a dozen states still have no building energy codes, and many more have codes that are outdated. Similarly, there are not yet minimum energy-efficiency standards for many energy-using products, and many existing standards are obsolete. In addition, a number of factors reduce the effectiveness of current buildings policies. For example, while many states have adopted building energy codes, compliance with such codes is often uneven and/or not enforced, while legislative directives for the U.S. Department of Energy to establish equipment and appliance standards have gone unanswered.
Beyond making current policies more effective, the report also recommends new policies that would further reduce buildings’ energy use. For example, tax incentives encourage the purchase of technologies that have not yet gained full market acceptance. Electric and natural gas utilities can be required to meet a portion of their customers’ energy needs through energy-efficiency improvements, rather than simply by building new power plants.
The report also concludes that the nation could realize further advances in energy-efficiency technologies by strengthening the research and deployment infrastructure of the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and the national laboratories.
Read the report.
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