Legislation

On March 10th the Senate passed a package of extensions of tax incentives that had expired. The bill, authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), includes some additional provisions relevant to energy efficiency. The two bills will now likely be reconciled by a conference committee before again being voted upon by each chamber.

On February 10, 2010, the Government Accountability Office released a report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that identifies regulatory barriers to its funded projects and compiles data on rates of spending. This is an Alliance-prepared summary of the report.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has developed a discussion draft bill, the Clean Energy Act of 2009. The bill would create a federal Clean Energy Standard that electric utilities could meet through renewable power generation, new nuclear energy, advanced coal fueled generation incorporating carbon capture and storage (CCS), and certain other sources (including coal-mine methane and certain waste-to-energy), as well as energy efficiency.

The Recovery Act provided $2.7 billion for formula grants to 2300 eligible states, territories, and local governments for the development and implementation of projects to improve municipal energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption, particularly in the building and transportation sectors. An additional $454 million was made available for competitive grants.

The Recovery Act provided $4.98 billion to the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). This program is designed to increase residential energy efficiency for low-income families and provide technical and financial assistance to support state and local weatherization agencies throughout the United States.

The Recovery Act provided $4.5 billion to the General Services Administration (GSA) to convert federal facilities into High-Performance Green Buildings. GSA will use this funding to reduce water and energy consumption and install renewable energy in 240 federal buildings in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and two territories.

The Recovery Act provided $3.1 billion in grants to states and territories through the Department of Energy’s State Energy Program. The program supports State Energy Offices carrying out their own renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, and the Recovery Act funding also required each governor to pledge improvements in state building code adoption and utility incentives for energy efficiency. All 50 states and six territories are participating in the Recovery Act program.

The Recovery Act provided $300 million to states and territories to promote the purchase of ENERGY STAR appliances.  States may use the funds for a variety of rebate programs and residential appliances, as long as the rebates support individual consumers replacing old appliances. All 50 states and six territories are participating in the program, and rebates will be available between December 2009 and June 2010.

The Recovery Act provided more than $25 billion for energy efficiency programs and billions more to other programs which may be applied to energy efficiency projects. The Recovery Act funding represented an unprecedented commitment to energy efficiency at all levels of government, municipal to federal, and brought with it unprecedented challenges in fast and effective deployment.

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009 on October 23, 2009. The much-awaited Senate Climate bill establishes a strong cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions and emissions allocations for clean energy, worker training and transition assistance and climate adaptation.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee reported the American Clean Energy Leadership Act, a unified energy bill, on June 17th, 2009. The bill contains significant energy efficiency provisions including greatly strengthened building codes, a renewable electricity standard with an energy efficiency component, and new energy efficient product standards. ACELA sets no carbon reduction requirements.

The House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a combined climate at energy bill, on June 26th, 2009. The comprehensive bill has the potential to advance energy efficiency more than any other single piece of legislation to date. The Alliance to Save Energy strongly supports the creation of a cap-and-trade program that sets a carbon price, implements complementary energy efficiency policies, and invests in complementary energy efficiency programs.

On October 3rd, 2008 President Bush signed into law H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which contains new and renewed tax incentives for consumers and businesses for energy-efficient homes and commercial buildings, equipment, and vehicles. The incentives originally enacted as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 encourage highly efficient commercial buildings, new homes, home improvements, heating and cooling equipment, appliances, and hybrid and diesel vehicles.