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Joint AHRI/ACEEE/Alliance News Conference
Tuesday, October 13, 10 am
National Press Club, First Amendment Lounge
Good morning, everyone.
As you may know, the President has declared October Energy Awareness Month and the Senate is poised to consider landmark climate legislation this month, so it’s a very fitting and opportune time to unveil today’s historic, voluntary consensus agreement that will scale-up, significantly, the efforts underway in our country to drive energy efficiency into the market place.
As detailed by the other speakers, the higher standards we have agreed to will deliver the usual “triple crown” of energy efficiency benefits that the Alliance to Save Energy promotes on a daily basis – monetary saving for consumers, energy savings for our nation, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions for our planet.
The Alliance is very proud to have been among the groups collaborating on the agreement; and we commend and congratulate all the companies and advocacy groups that worked for many months to make it a reality.
As an organization that has a central focus on strengthening building energy codes, we are particularly proud that the agreement sets a new foundation, so to speak, for the minimum energy efficiency of heating and cooling equipment that will go into new homes.
Starting in 2013, states will be able to include in their building codes more stringent energy efficiency levels for HVAC systems than those in place for equipment generally available in the market.
It is commonly understood that constructing buildings efficiently ‘from the ground up’ is the best way to maximize savings of energy, money, and emissions.
And aggressive efficiency levels for HVAC equipment are particularly critical to homeowners as heating and cooling typically account for the largest single chunk – about 40 percent – of monthly energy use.
Our agreement recognizes that new homes can be designed and built to accommodate installation of such higher-efficiency heating and cooling equipment on a cost-effective basis even when such opportunities may not be available in today’s existing homes.
For example, a highly efficient condensing gas furnace requires a drain to remove the condensation. Providing such a drain is relatively easy and affordable in new home construction; but it might put the whole project out of reach in an existing home.
So, by recognizing the greater flexibility available in new home construction, the building codes provision of today’s agreement supports the most efficient new systems where they are most cost-effective.
As the Congress moves forward on energy and climate legislation, the voluntary consensus we are signing today will be a critical element of containing the costs of such legislation and will insure that we begin, immediately to reduce GHGs meaningfully and cost-effectively.
And the stakes are huge. Residential homes in the United States account for roughly 4% of the world’s CO2 emissions – the equivalent of the entire economy of India or Japan today. The agreement we are signing today will not only ensure major energy and dollar savings for homeowners in the United States, it will insure as well that we – as a Nation – reduce, significantly, the contribution to global warming that this sector of our economy is delivering today.
Thank you.
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