The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness (ESIC) Act will spur the use of energy efficiency technologies in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of our economy, while also fostering job creation.

This bipartisan bill uses a variety of low-cost tools to reduce barriers for private sector energy users and drive adoption of off-the-shelf efficiency technologies that will save businesses and consumers money, make America more energy independent, and reduce emissions. Efficiency technologies are commercially available today, can be widely deployed in every state in the nation, and pay for themselves through energy savings relatively quickly.

The Shaheen-Portman bill will help speed the transition to a more energy efficient economy, increasing both our economic competitiveness and our energy security for the coming decades, while driving economic growth and encouraging private sector job creation.

What the Bill Would Do

Buildings

• ​Strengthens national model building codes to make new homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient while working with states and private industry to make the code-writing process more transparent.
• Kick starts private sector investment in building efficiency upgrades and renovations by creating a Commercial Building Energy Efficiency Financing Initiative.
• Trains the next generation of workers in energy-efficient commercial building design and operation through university-based Building Training and Research Assessment Centers.

Manufacturers

• Directs the DOE to work closely with private sector partners to encourage research, development and commercialization of innovative energy efficient technology and processes for industrial applications.
• Helps manufacturers reduce energy use and become more competitive by incentivizing the use of more energy efficient electric motors and transformers.
• Establishes a DOE program – SupplySTAR - to help make companies’ supply chains more efficient.

Federal Government

• ​Requires the federal government – the single largest energy user in the country -- to adopt energy saving techniques for computers, saving energy and taxpayer dollars.
• Allows federal agencies to use existing funds to update plans for new federal buildings, using the most current building efficiency standards.