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This week marks a major milestone in the country’s three-decade push to drive energy efficiency through standards and codes with the signing of a consensus agreement on the most significant set of standards ever developed for heating and cooling equipment. It was an honor for me to join other advocates and CEOs of leading HVAC manufacturing companies and AHRI (American Heating and Refrigeration Institute) in signing the precedent-setting standards. These standards will save consumers an enormous amount of money – about $13 billion in today’s dollars between 2013 (when the new standards begin to take effect) and 2030. They will also save the amount of energy equivalent to what is consumed annually by the state of Michigan; and avoid CO2 emissions equivalent to taking 4 million cars off of the road.
Tuesday’s achievement symbolizes what we at the Alliance know to be true: our most successful initiatives are those that involve all stakeholders coming together to reap the benefits of energy efficiency. I would like to take the opportunity to both congratulate and thank the many, many people who worked through long months and tough negotiations to reach this historic agreement, including Steve Nadel of the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy, who led the negotiations on behalf of the efficiency advocates, and the Alliance’s own Lowell Ungar and Jeff Harris who worked specifically on the building code provisions in the agreement. I encourage you to read all about the standards and the signing event at the National Press Club.
And, last week marked another first for both the Alliance and me, personally, as I had the pleasure of getting to know one of the Alliance’s newest Associates when I spoke at the annual meeting of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) in Orlando, Fla. APTA joined us last spring after its president, William Millar, spoke at our Great Energy Efficiency Day in Washington, DC. Then as now we agree that energy efficiency is powerful fuel for the public transportation industry as it forges a path toward a new clean energy economy. APTA’s annual meeting attracts over 2000 public transportation professionals from both the public and private sector, which gave me ample opportunity to meet and speak with those who at the helm of this fast-growing industry.
As always, thank you for your support!
Kateri Callahan
President, Alliance to Save Energy
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