During the second half of the Opening Plenary Session, panelists discussed energy efficiency policies, programs and developments from a federal perspective.
Putting Energy Efficiency to Work
Alliance Honorary Co-Chair Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) described real energy efficiency initiatives happening in his home state, such as new lighting systems in Arkansas’ many poultry farms, and a recovery act-funded weatherization project slated to benefit about 250,000 homes next year.
Said Senator Pryor confidently, “Efficiency is something at our nation is starting to understand.
The senator also outlined a legislative project he’s been working on – the Building STAR program. Despite the Senate’s busy schedule, Pryor hopes his colleagues will pass the initiative, which offers rebates for energy-efficient building equipment, products and services.
Building STAR aims to provide jobs for the 1.7 mill construction workers out of work, and reduce energy waste in the building sector, which accounts for 40% of U.S. total energy waste. Says Pryor, the bill has received favorable reviews so far, as many come to understand its potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, save millions of dollars and reduce carbon emissions.
Act Now
Calvin Dooley President & CEO American Chemistry Council, detailed his industry’s action-oriented approach to the efficiency question: “We are not waiting for Congress to act,” he said, explaining that energy efficiency is the ‘prevention’ that is worth a ‘ton of cure’.
Referring to the Carbon Life Cycle Study produced by McKinsey Global Institute, Dooley noted that chemistry “can play an important role in the developments and innovations of products and technologies that can empower consumers and manufactures to reduce their carbon emissions – and a lot of that is the direct result of energy efficiency.”
Form lithium ion batteries to thermal roof coatings, insulations, PVC water pipes and CFLs, chemistry, said Dooley, is behind the products, innovations and technology that are contributing to significant reductions in energy use.
Dooley also cited the significance of chemistry in a variety of industries – such as residential and commercial buildings, utilities, and transportation – and called for smart policies that include energy efficiency provisions while maintaining the global competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing.
Speed and Scale
Assistant Secretary Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy Cathy Zoi adhered to a simple message in her talk: that we need speed and scale to make energy efficiency go big. “If we get ourselves organized…we can save $220 billion a year.”
The reasons, she said, are three-fold: we need to save money, clean up pollution, and stop arguing about clean energy policy and climate policy: “We need to reach agreement nationally and internationally. The most fundamental things we can agree on is energy efficiency…[it] has to become a national norm and global norm.”
Zoi talked through a couple of federal programs and policies, most notably Retrofit Ramp-up, which was introduced by Vice-President Biden a few months ago. By creating sustainable business models for locations all around the country, Retrofit Ramp-up is ensuring that retrofitting becomes the norm in the United States.
Zoi also discussed the Home Star legislation recently passed by the House, which offers point-of-sale residential rebate program for consumers.
Zoi is excited about this program: “Not only because it will create easy access for rebates to people around the country, but because it will create jobs in construction. People who want to do work and work that needs to be done.”
She encouraged EE Global delegates to consider this conference an opportunity to discover ways to make energy efficiency “go big” – through energy-efficient technologies, systems and policies.
Think Big and Deliver Big
Closing the Opening Plenary was the Hon. Gina McCarthy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
McCarthy encouraged delegates to “think big and deliver big.” Today’s leaders – such as President Obama, U.S. DOE Secretary Steven Chu and Cathy Zoi – are tuned into the big potential of energy efficiency, and the fact that “energy efficiency is an essential tool to meet our climate and energy goals,” as McCarthy described it.
As for U.S. EPA’s role, she said that her office needs to make energy efficiency work within the regulatory structure while also recognizing states’ efforts in EPA’s voluntary programs.
McCarthy explained how EPA’s rules are intended to not only protect U.S. citizens from the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions, but also encourage a common sense understanding of energy efficiency within business practices.
The light duty vehicle rule, for example, challenges big manufacturers to use energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while another rule addresses the toxic emissions that come from nearly 200,000 unregulated boilers. Said McCarthy, “[EPA] saw a tremendous opportunity here….you want to generate investments in the most efficient boilers so that the old ones get switched out.”
By creating rules and parameters, EPA inspires companies to innovate and deliver energy-efficient technologies for a sustainable, clean energy future.
“We can have a future where people believe that efficiency is good for them,” said McCarthy. “We have a future in which we can attack climate change in a way that helps people understand it is good for them in their lives, that it can grow the economy and make their lives better – and that we can achieve this future if we can actions if we work together.”
Read about the first half of the Opening Plenary session.
Tags: industrial energy efficiency, Plenary Session, policies
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