Industry leaders propose new energy efficiency standards
23 10 09 - 12:21 By Emily MullinWashington - Leading energy-efficiency advocates and appliance manufacturers signed an agreement Tuesday to create new regional efficiency standards for air conditioners, furnaces and heat pumps.
"Energy-efficiency standards may not be sexy, but they are incredibly effective," Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said at a press conference.
If the Department of Energy adopts the standards, households could save about $100 a year. "Put together, this agreement has the potential to save customers over $10 billion on their electricity bills over the next 25 years and reduce energy demands enough to forego the construction of dozens of power plants," Menendez said.
Although new energy-efficient appliances for homes would initially cost consumers a few hundred dollars, industry leaders estimate that the proposed standards will save U.S. consumers about $13 billion between 2013, when the agreement would take effect, and 2030.
The agreement would set different standard levels for heating and cooling appliances in three climate regions - the north, south and southwest.
"In this way, the agreement both lays the groundwork for significant energy saving and helps make heating and cooling homes more cost-effective regardless of the climate," Keith Coursin, chairman of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, said.
Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, agreed that regional standards make sense.
"In the north, it's the heating savings that really drive things," Nadel said. "In the south, it's the cooling savings."
The council is a nonprofit organization that advocates energy efficiency as a way to promote economic prosperity, energy security and environmental protection.
Another provision in the agreement would encourage state building codes to include stricter efficiency levels for heating and cooling systems in new homes.
From 2013 to 2030, industry leaders estimate the new regulations would save about the same amount of energy consumed by 18 million households in one year
The savings would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about the same amount of emissions produced by four million cars every year.
"The higher standards that we've agreed on with industry will deliver what we call the usual 'triple crown' of energy efficiency benefits," said Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders.
Those benefits include monetary savings for customers, energy savings for the United States and a reduction of emissions for the planet.
Callahan said that U.S. households contribute about 4 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the world, which is about equal to the annual emissions of Japan or India's economy.
"So anything we can do to make and deliver efficiency into our residential sector is going to have an enormous impact and an enormous contribution to lowering greenhouse gas emissions," Callahan said.
Bob Simon, staff director for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said the Department of Energy could adopt the proposed standards on a consensus basis while waiting for Congress to pass a comprehensive energy and climate change bill.
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