From the ACEEE regarding the Climate Proposal: The compromise Kerry-Lieberman proposal released today misses out on a key opportunity to address the cost of curbing climate change by including little on energy efficiency – the first, best, and least-cost carbon-reduction opportunity. The Kerry-Lieberman proposal does much less for energy efficiency than previous major climate change bills. Relative to the climate bills passed by the House and reported out by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, two major energy efficiency provisions have been dramatically reduced. These are provisions that provide emissions allowances to fund a variety of state energy efficiency programs and a requirement that gas utilities use a portion of their free emissions allowances to operate energy efficiency programs. On state programs, Kerry and Lieberman provide less than a quarter of the allowances provided in the House-passed energy and climate bill. On natural gas programs, Kerry and Lieberman have reduced the minimum share of allowances to energy efficiency from one-third to one-fifth. On the other hand, the Kerry-Lieberman proposal does include several useful transportation provisions and also a small short-term program for industrial efficiency.

“Our analysis of the House-passed climate bill found that consumer bill savings from energy efficiency offset the costs to consumers of greenhouse gas emissions limits, making the overall package affordable to consumers,” stated Steven Nadel, Executive Director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). “The Kerry-Lieberman proposal will result in only limited energy savings, and without these savings, costs to consumers will be higher.”

In addition to concerns about cuts to energy efficiency provisions, ACEEE also noted that by providing rebates to consumers through their energy bills, the Kerry-Lieberman proposal would also reduce the incentive for consumers to conserve energy on their own. “For the market for energy efficiency to work, consumers need to see the costs of inefficiency on their energy bills. While we support consumer rebates to offset costs, these rebates should be provided in other ways, rather than directly on energy bills,” noted Nadel.

In remarks leading up to today’s introduction, Senators Kerry and Lieberman have acknowledged the positive role energy efficiency can play, and have referred to the energy efficiency provisions in an energy bill reported out by the Senate Energy Committee. However, according to a previous analysis

by ACEEE, the majority of energy savings in the Senate Energy Committee bill requires funding that was expected to come from a climate bill, but such funding is missing from the Kerry-Lieberman bill.

“The bill does take important steps towards lowering transportation-sector emissions by requiring national goals for transportation reductions, as well as state and metro area targets. More federal dollars are available to help reach those targets than in previous bills, though acceptable uses for those funds could be better defined. In addition, the bill offers substantial assistance to auto manufacturers and suppliers for clean vehicle production, including plug-ins; unfortunately, vehicle efficiency performance requirements for this program are quite weak,” stated ACEEE Transportation Program Director Therese Langer.

The previous ACEEE analysis on the House-passed energy and climate bill concluded that the energy efficiency provisions in the bill would save the average American household about $200 annually by 2020. These consumer savings would exceed the non-efficiency costs per household of the legislation, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated to be $175 in 2020. ACEEE also estimated the energy savings of the energy bill reported out by the Senate Energy Committee and found that this bill would save less than half the energy of the House-passed bill. Of the savings in the Senate Energy Committee bill, more than 60% of the savings are dependent on Congress providing funding for the provisions. Without this funding, savings from the Senate Energy Committee bill will be about one-quarter of the savings from the House-passed bill.

“We support the intent and efforts of Senators Kerry and Lieberman. However, in order to enact their proposal, they will need to make the case that it will not have adverse effects on consumers. Unfortunately, by gutting the energy efficiency provisions in their bill, they have created a huge impediment to make this case. They have pulled the plug on the most effective carbon-reduction strategy,” concluded Nadel. “We urge the Senate to build upon the meager energy efficiency provisions in the Kerry-Lieberman bill in order to reduce the costs to consumers of addressing climate change.”

• ACEEE’s analysis of ACES: http://www.aceee.org/energy/national/houseenergyandclimate.htm
• ACEEE’s analysis of ACELA (does not include amendment from 05/06/10): http://www.aceee.org/energy/national/senateenergy.htm

A new analysis of 95 countries responsible for 97% of global economic activity has found that 32 made significant improvements in the first quarter of 2010. In addition, 46% of the countries have demonstrated some improvement in climate accountability. The findings are the result of the Climate Competitiveness Index (CCI) 2010, produced by the non-profit institute AccountAbility in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The index rates countries on their climate accountability, based on a climate strategy that is clear, ambitious, and supported by stakeholders, as well as their climate performance, which tallies each country’s capabilities and track record on delivering its strategy.

The CCI finds Germany, China, and the Republic of Korea to be outstanding examples of countries that have made significant improvements, while Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Japan, and France show the most consistent progress toward climate goals. The United States and the United Kingdom earn kudos for climate accountability, while Switzerland and Austria are strong on performance. But this is one index where no country has yet earned a perfect score. The UNEP and AccountAbility intend to update the new index annually. See the UNEP press release, the CCI Web site, an executive summary of the accompanying report (PDF 1.6 MB), and the full report (PDF 3.3 MB).

Yesterday, the Department of Energy gave national energy efficiency efforts a major boost by releasing new national water heater standards.  According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (“ACEEE”) and other energy efficiency, consumer and environmental organizations, the new standards, which effect millions of new hot water heaters, will result in huge amounts of energy savings.  More from the ACEEE:

In addition, for the very largest home water heaters, the new efficiency standards will for the first time require advanced technologies (heat pumps for electrically-powered products and condensing technology for gas products), paving the way for even bigger future savings.

“From washing hands to hot showers to clean dishes, we all rely on water heaters for our daily needs,” said Steven Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).”These new standards will deliver big national energy savings, reduce consumer energy bills, and cut pollution.”

According to DOE, for most product sizes sold, the new standards can be met with modest changes, such as adding more insulation to today’s conventional tank-style water heaters.For the most common size electric water heater (50 gallons), the standards will save 4 percent while for the most common size gas water heater (40 gallons), the new standards will save 3 percent.These per unit savings add up to big national impacts since more than nine million home water heaters are sold every year and water heating accounts for some 12 percent of the typical home’s energy use.

However, for the biggest products (those with over 55 gallons in storage capacity, which is about 9% and 4% of the electric and gas water heater markets, respectively), the new standards can only be met with heat pump and condensing technology.Heat pump electric water heaters save at least 50 percent and gas condensing water heaters save about 25 percent relative to today’s conventional storage water heaters.

“In the long run, a shift to electric heat pump and condensing gas water heaters is absolutely essential if we are to make deep cuts in household energy use and costs,” said Jeffrey Harris, Vice President, National Programs, of the Alliance to Save Energy. “DOE deserves tremendous credit for kick-starting this transition with its new standards.”

The new standards will save 2.6 quads of energy over 30 years or about enough energy to meet the total needs of about 13 million typical U.S. households for one year.Over the same period, consumers would save about $8.7 billion and carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 154 million metric tons (an amount equal to the typical annual emissions of 30 million cars).

Based on DOE analyses, ACEEE estimates that a transition to electric heat pump and condensing gas products in all sizes and applications that make sense would save about 10 quads of energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 0.5 billion metric tons.

Last year, President Obama committed to accelerate DOE’s work to update many outmoded standards.These new standards are the latest in a series of more than 20 that must be completed during the current presidential term.

“Just a year into President Obama’s administration, DOE has made remarkable progress to update appliance standards,” said Andrew deLaski, Executive Director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). “DOE’s new standards prove again that the cheapest and cleanest energy is the energy we save.”

Condensing and heat pump technologies are common in space heating but have only a toehold so far in the water heater market.More than 40 percent of U.S. furnace sales are of condensing products, and about 8 percent of U.S. homes are warmed with heat pumps.Several major water heater companies have brought these technologies to the water heater market and other major manufacturers are working to develop and introduce competing products.

“The Obama Administration has demonstrated again its strong commitment to an energy-efficient future with these standards.These standards are a big step toward improving the efficiency of U.S. homes,” said Tim Ballo, Associate Attorney for Earthjustice. “We are encouraged to see the Obama Administration make the right choice and give energy efficiency the boost that it deserves. We hope this decision signals the Administration’s future choices on energy efficiency standards, which have the ability to put money back in the American people’s pockets, spur innovation, create jobs, and lift our economy, while at the same time reducing harmful air pollution from power plants.”

A broad coalition of consumer, energy efficiency, and environmental groups as well as utilities, state officials, and more than 17,000 individuals wrote DOE urging adoption of the standards announced today.

Today’s final rule also updates minimum standards for less common products such as tankless water heaters (also known as instantaneous water heaters), pool heaters, and direct heating equipment, a type of space heater.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, energy consulting and third-party verification services.  In addition, Populus provides consulting and training to municipalities to aid in the aid in the implementation of residential programs and energy codes.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Today, the United States government issued national energy efficiency standards for vehicles,  ending a thirty-year battle between regulators and automakers.   Read more at the New York Times.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, energy consulting and third-party verification services.  In addition, Populus provides consulting and training to municipalities to aid in the aid in the implementation of residential programs and energy codes.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Today, Mayor McGinn of Seattle approved a new Energy Disclosure Ordinance.  The ordinance, which is intended to identify energy waste and give property owners and tenants tools to improve energy efficiency, was unanimously approved by the Seattle City Council on January 25th.  The new ordinance requires commercial and large multi-family buildings to annually measure, or benchmark, energy usage and provide the City with energy ratings to allow comparison of energy consumption across different buildings.  City officials have cited the ordinance as a critical strategy for the City of Seattle in meeting its energy goals.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” said Seattle City Council Chair Richard Conlin. “Energy disclosure is a key first step to tap into the gold mine of opportunities to save energy and money while improving the City’s existing building stock. I’d like to thank all the members of the Green Building Task Force and other stakeholders who helped create this new ordinance that will save energy and create new jobs in Seattle.”

You can read more about the new Energy Disclosure Ordinance here.