Energy Efficiency Policies Save Money and Reduces the Cost of Climate Legislation

Readily available energy efficiency measures – such as weatherizing homes, improving appliance efficiency, and retrofitting old buildings with better insulation – can help consumers and businesses use less energy and lower their utility bills. If the enormous, unused potential of energy efficiency were tapped, energy users would save billions of dollars a year and urgent climate and energy legislation would be much more affordable.

· McKinsey and Co., the global business consulting firm, found that the country has the potential to save $1.2 trillion in utility bills – that’s nearly the size of the 2009 federal budget deficit – through aggressive adoption of available energy efficiency measures.

· For every dollar invested in efficiency, consumers save $4 – money that can be spent in other areas of the economy. (Environment Northeast, Energy Efficiency)

· According to a September 2009 study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the American Clean Energy and Security Act’s (H.R. 2454) energy efficiency policies on their own could lead to utility ill reductions equal to $283 in 2020 and $832 in 2030.

· An October 2009 study by ACEEE examined the cost impacts of all of the policies in H.R. 2454 that would affect the nation’s utility bills. ACEEE found that H.R. 2454, as passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, would produce annual savings in utility bills equal to an average of $354 a year per U.S. household. Improvements in the energy efficiency programs in H.R. 2454 would boost those savings to as much as $452 by 2030 and $724 by 2050.

· A February 2010 study by the Consumer Federation of America looked at the potential effect energy efficiency could have on U.S. residences. The study showed that with the strongest feasible energy efficiency policies in place, homeowners and renters would consume up to 30 percent less electricity and natural gas than the levels projected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration for 2030. This reduction would lower residential utility bills of the average U.S. household by $345 a year.