October 2006
Newsletter Contents:
Guest Highlight
Rob Sargent of US PIRG discusses the New Energy Future Campaign and what it means for energy-efficiency advocates.
Alliance to Save Energy Column
Senior Research Associate Kelly Ross-Gillespie talks about the formation of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance and the benefits it could create for the Southeast United States.
State Updates
Legislative updates from California, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
US PIRG Announces Campaign for a New Energy Future 
by Rob Sargent
Energy Program Director, USPIRG
Public concern about energy and America’s over-dependence on oil is higher than it has been at any time since the 1970s. Consumers are uneasy about gasoline and oil prices; which hit all time records this summer. Debates over how and where we get our energy have become front page news and constituencies from across the political spectrum are realizing the long-term economic and foreign policy implications of our over-reliance on oil. Recent media focus on global warming is adding to the public’s sense of urgency about the need to reduce our fossil fuel consumption.
Despite high levels of public concern and strong support for clean renewable energy and conservation measures, Congress and the Bush Administration have done almost nothing to put us on a cleaner, more secure energy path. On balance, Washington officials have set us back by promoting supply side options at the expense of energy conservation and renewable energy.
Now, Americans have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dramatically shift the direction of our nation’s energy policy by demanding that our leaders support policies to reduce our reliance on oil, increase renewable energy, promote conservation and dramatically increase investments in energy-saving and renewable energy technologies to achieve these objectives.
To capture this moment, USPIRG has launched the New Energy Future Campaign to show the breadth and depth of support for sensible clean energy policies. Similar campaigns have been launched at the state level in Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Maine.
New Energy Future Campaign:
In addition building broad public support across the country, USPIRG will, separately, be asking all congressional candidates to support policies that help the U.S. achieve four key goals:
- Reduce U.S. dependence on oil by saving one-third of the oil we use today (7M/barrels/day) by 2025 ;
- Harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources for at least one quarter of all energy needs by 2025 ;
- Save energy with high performance homes, buildings and appliances so that by 2025 we use 10 percent less energy than we do today; and,
- Invest in a New Energy Future by tripling research and development funding for the energy-saving and renewable technologies we need to achieve these goals.
We just completed an analysis, A New Energy Future: The Benefits of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for Cutting America’s Use of Fossil Fuels, which shows that achieving these goals would have a tremendous impact on America’s environment, economy, and national security.
Reduce U.S. dependence on oil. America has the technological know-how to dramatically reduce our dependence on oil. By building cars that go farther on a gallon of gas, giving Americans better transportation choices, and using clean, renewable fuels, we can slash our use of oil, improve our environment, safeguard our energy security and, in many cases, save money.
Among the steps the nation can take are increasing fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, setting goals for plant-based fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, and investing in expanded and improved public transit services. Using these and other tools we can cut America’s oil consumption by more than 7 million barrels a day – about one-third of America’s current oil use.
Harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources. America has virtually limitless potential to take advantage of renewable energy to power our economy. The Great Plains has been called the “Saudi Arabia of wind” for its vast, high quality wind resource. Similarly, solar panels on just 7 percent of are currently covered by cities and homes could provide all of America’s electricity.
By tapping our renewable energy potential, America can dramatically scale back its use of fossil fuels. According to our analysis, replacing nearly 25 percent of our energy with renewable sources by 2025 would allow us to save more than half of the natural gas per year in 2025 than is currently used in American homes, and 40 percent of all the coal America used in 2005.
Save Energy. America has vast “strategic reserves” of energy efficiency. Virtually every part of the American economy has the potential to use energy more efficiently from the appliances we use in our kitchens, to the windows we use in our office buildings, and the motors we use in our factories.
Cutting our use of energy by 10 percent would require reducing the amount of energy we are projected to use in 2025 by 27 percent. A series of recent studies suggest that we could cut our use of electricity and natural gas by more than 20 percent using energy-efficiency technologies that pay back their costs over time. We could get the rest of the way to our goal by investing in tomorrow’s technologies such as “zero-energy” homes that virtually eliminate the need for fossil fuels and “green” commercial buildings that slice demand for energy by 25 to 40 percent or more.
Invest in a New Energy Future. By committing $30 billion over the next 10 years to the New Energy for America Initiative, we could triple research and development funding for the energy-saving and renewable technologies we need to achieve these goals.
Spending $3 billion per year on federal clean energy research and development over the next decade would help us develop the next wave of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Projects could include developing the next wave of improvements in vehicle technology, investigating ways to store the energy created by wind and solar power, and finding the best ways to effectively use bio-fuels.
Achieving the goal of a New Energy Future will not be an easy task, so we need leaders who are up to the challenge. By supporting these goals, candidates will send a clear message to voters that they are committed to putting American innovation to work in order to break America’s dependence on oil and put our nation on a course toward a cleaner and more secure tomorrow.
The state PIRGs created U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) in 1983 to act as watchdog for the public interest in our nation's capital, much as PIRGs have worked to safeguard the public interest in state capitals since 1971. Our organization's roots at the state level, and U.S. PIRG members across the country, give us a unique "outside the beltway" perspective and provide the grassroots power necessary to influence the national policy debate. For more information on US PIRG or the New Energy Future Campaign, visit US PIRG at www.uspirg.org.
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 Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance to Hold First Board Meeting
by Kelly Ross-Gillespie
Senior Research Associate, The Alliance to Save Energy
With a fast growing population and an energy market heavily dependent upon fossil fuels, the Southeastern United States is a prime region in which energy-efficiency advocates can make a difference. Unfortunately, the Southeast region lags behind the rest of the nation in energy-efficiency programs and policies. However, help is on the way. Led by the Alliance to Save Energy, energy-efficiency supporters from across the Southeast gathered together to form the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA). The purpose of SEEA is to build regional partnerships among the SEEA stakeholders to promote and achieve energy efficiency through program activities and education for a cleaner environment, more prosperous economy, and higher quality of life in the Southeast region of the U.S. SEEA is proud to join other regional energy-efficiency alliances currently operating in every other region of the U.S.
SEEA is based in Atlanta, Georgia and is active in the following 11 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The Southeast is the nation’s leader in population, immigration. Consistently ranked among the nation’s largest and fastest growing regions, in 2004, 700,706 privately owned housing permits were issued across the Southeast – 34 percent of the national total (Census 2004).
Electric utility energy efficiency program spending per capita in the Southeast is just one-fifth the national average, due to low energy prices. With a majority of the electricity generation coming from coal, energy savings levels experienced in other regions of the United States would significantly improve air quality across the region.
In a “business as usual” scenario – without further energy-efficiency improvements – electricity consumption in the Southeast is expected to grow 45 percent by 2020 (REEP 2002). SEEA was created to help combat this scenario by creating networks that utility companies, local and state governments, and businesses can use to make energy efficiency a priority, and a reality in these states.
SEEA held its first regional event in January 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia to promote the energy-efficiency tax incentives offered in the federal Energy Policy Act 2005. The workshop attracted more than 175 participants from 14 states. In August 2006, SEEA partnered with the Chatham Country-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission, Southface, Savannah Home Builders Association, and the USGBC to hold another tax incentives workshop in Savannah, Georgia, which attracted nearly 125 participants.
SEEA has also held statewide meetings in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina to educate energy-efficiency stakeholders on SEEA’s mission and goals and to also assess the status of energy efficiency in those states. SEEA plans to visit the remaining eight states of the region within the next year.
The inaugural SEEA Board of Directors meeting will be held on October 12, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia. Board members include Kateri Callahan and Brian Castelli from the Alliance to Save Energy, and representatives from Dewey Ballantine, Duke Energy, Georgia Tech, Southface, Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, North American Insulation Manufacturers Association, Owens Corning, Southern Company, and Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters. The Board will consider program and policy options, including a potential study on the energy-efficiency potential in the Southeast, and a Western Governors’ Association-like clean energy initiative.
You can find SEEA on the web at www.seea.us.
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California
Assembly Bill 32
Sent to Governor 9/5/06, Signed into Law 9/27/06
AB 32 requires the California Climate Action Registry to create a mandatory reporting program for greenhouse gas emissions of the largest polluters, such as electric utilities and oil refineries, and creates a greenhouse gas emissions cap by reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Assembly Bill 993
Passed Senate 8/30/06, Vetoed by Governor 9/29/06
AB 993 would have required California Community Colleges to encourage one or more Economic and Workforce Development Program regional centers to develop an energy-efficiency training course for facilities managers.
Assembly Bill 1012
Passed Senate 8/29/06, Passed Assembly 8/29/06, Vetoed by Governor 9/30/06
AB 1012 would have required the state board, by January 1, 2008, to develop and adopt regulations to take effect no later than January 1, 2010, to increase the use of clean alternative fuels for motor vehicles.
Assembly Bill 1337
Passed Assembly with amendments 8/29/06, Vetoed by Governor 9/30/06
AB 1337 would have enacted the Green Building Act of 2006 and would have required the California Integrated Waste Management Board to develop and adopt regulations for green building standards separate from standards issued by the California Building Standards Commission for the construction or renovation of state buildings by January 1, 2008, and would have required that all state buildings beginning construction or renovation after January 1, 2009 be designed and operated according to those regulations.
Assembly Bill 1407
Passed Senate 8/24/06, Passed Assembly 8/31/06, Signed into law 9/29/06
AB 1407 would allow residents of the 9-county Bay Area with hybrid vehicles to travel in any HOV lane without the requisite number of passengers required, provided they obtain and maintain an active FasTrak account and apply for a DMV identifier.
Assembly Bill 1925
Passed Senate 8/28/06, Passed Assembly 8/29/06, Signed into law 9/26/06
AB 1925 requires the State Energy Resources and Development Commission to issue a report to the legislature with recommendations for how the state can accelerate the adoption of cost-effective geologic sequestration strategies for industrial carbon dioxide.
Assembly Bill 2021
Passed Senate 8/31/06, Passed Assembly 8/31/06, Signed into law 9/29/06
AB 2021 would require the Energy Commission to identify all potentially achievable, cost-effective electricity and natural gas efficiency savings in public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations, and establish statewide annual targets for energy-efficiency savings and demand reduction over 10 years.
Assembly Bill 2160
Passed Senate 8/29/06, Passed Assembly 8/30/06, Signed into law 9/29/06
AB 2160 would require the Sustainable Building Task Force and Technical Group to define a life cycle cost assessment methodology to be used for state building and construction decisions. It would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to identify and develop financing to facilitate state building energy or resource-efficient projects, and identify appropriate incentives to facilitate those projects.
Assembly Bill 2264
Passed Senate 8/24/06, Passed Assembly 8/29/06, Signed into law 9/29/06
AB 2264 would require, on or before June 1, 2007, the Department of General Services, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to establish a minimum fuel economy standard for the state fleet, as specified, for internal combustion, fossil-fuel only passenger vehicles and light duty trucks purchased. The bill would require that on or after January 1, 2008, new state fleet purchases of these vehicles by all state entities, as defined, would have to meet this minimum fuel economy standard.
Assembly Bill 2390
Passed Senate 8/10/06, Passed Assembly 8/14/06, Signed into law 9/7/06
AB 2390 requires the Public Utilities Commission to report to the Legislature by July 15, 2009, and triennially thereafter, on the energy efficiency and conservation programs overseen by the commission, as specified. The report shall include information regarding authorized utility budgets and expenditures and projected and actual energy savings over the program cycle.
Assembly Bill 2600
Passed Senate 8/30/06, Passed Assembly 8/31/06, Signed into law 9/29/06
AB 2600 extends the requirement regarding issuance, distinctive decals, labels, and other identifiers for vehicles that meet California's super ultra-low emission vehicle standards for exhaust emission, and the federal inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) evaporative emission standards.
Assembly Bill 2723
Passed Senate 8/30/06, Passed Assembly 8/31/06, Signed into law 9/30/06
AB 2723 prohibits the establishment of the California Solar Initiative from resulting in the diversion of any moneys from any existing programs for low-income ratepayers, or from cost-effective energy efficiency or demand response programs.
Assembly Bill 2756
Passed Senate 8/30/06, Passed Assembly 8/31/06, Vetoed by Governor 9/29/06
AB 2756 would have required the controller to transfer funds from the Ratepayer Relief Fund to an account in the Special Deposit Fund, to provide grants to eligible institutions for energy conservation projects.
Senate Bill 757
Passed Senate 5/31/06, Passed Assembly 8/24/06, Vetoed by Governor 9/30/06
SB 757 would have required the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt recommendations, policies and programs by January 1, 2007, to reduce the rate of growth in petroleum consumption and increase transportation energy efficiency, and the use of alternative fuels. It also would have required the secretary of the California EPA to take action to influence the United States Congress and Department of Transportation to double the combined fuel economy of cars and light trucks by 2020, among other measures.
Senate Bill 1250
Passed Assembly 8/30/06, Passed Senate 8/31/06, Signed into Law 9/27/06
SB 1250 allows the California Public Utilities Commission to use energy-efficiency funds to create incentives for the purchase of energy-efficient refrigerators.
Senate Bill 1505
Passed Assembly 8/24/06, Passed Senate 8/30/06, Signed into Law 9/30/06
SB 1505 requires the state board to adopt regulations that will ensure that state funding for the production and use of hydrogen fuel, as described in the California Hydrogen Highway Blueprint Plan, contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas, criteria air pollutant, and toxic air contaminant emissions.
Michigan
Senate Bill 1469
Introduced and referred to the Committee on Finance 9/20/06
SB 1469 allows homeowners to make deductions on their state income taxes for weatherization improvements to their homes that increase heating efficiency.
Senate Bill 1475
Introduced and referred to the Committee on Finance 9/20/06
SB 1475 creates a database with the names of individuals and companies willing to donate time, services, and materials to assist in weatherization and energy efficiency projects in the homes of low income families.
Pennsylvania
House Bill 2990
Introduced and referred to the Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 2990 establishes an energy efficiency and pollution reduction initiative within the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Keystone Energy and Environmental Excellence Award.
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