Policy

Our Goals

The Campaign for an Energy-Efficient America supports the creation of new federal energy efficiency policies, including a national EERS that by the end of 2020 will achieve annual electricity savings of 15 percent and annual natural gas savings of 10 percent. To join us in the effort, click here.

Campaign for an Energy-Efficient America Position Statement

Our Presentation on the Federal Energy Efficiency Standard

In June 2009, the House of Representatives passed a comprehensive climate and energy bill known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). The bill, which was sponsored by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA), was a giant step forward for clean energy. The Senate should follow the lead of the House by passing a comprehensive climate and energy bill that enhances energy efficiency measures in ACES.

Currently, The Senate is primarily considering two legislative proposals:

  • The Kerry- Lieberman Framework: In May, U.S. Senators Kerry and Lieberman released a draft of a climate bill framework, dubbed the American Power Act, with a goal of gaining broad support in the Senate. That proposal relies on carbon emissions caps and pricing, rather than specific energy efficiency policies like an EERS, to stimulate energy conservation. A June 2010 analysis of the Kerry-Lieberman proposal by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy found that the American Power Act when combined with the American Clean Energy Leadership Act, or ACELA (see below), would save households $256 per year and has the potential to create 166,000 jobs by the year 2030. The ACEEE analysis also showed that, with a major expansion of efficiency policies the combination of APA and ACELA could produce household savings as high as $673 per year and create as many as 689,000 jobs by 2030.
  • American Clean Energy Leadership Act (ACELA) – Last fall, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR) completed work on ACELA, a bill that addresses energy specific issues but fails to include limits on carbon emissions. While the bill includes some clean-energy policies not found in the Kerry Lieberman proposal, such as renewable-electricity and energy-efficiency-resource standards, its EERS is significantly weaker than the EERS in the ACES bill and needs to be improved before the Senate completes its work on climate and energy policy.

The Campaign for an Energy Efficient America is calling on Majority Leader Reid, ENR Chairman Bingaman, and the entire Senate to ensure that Senate climate and energy legislation will improve on the energy efficiency provisions in the Waxman-Markey bill.

Help us by urging your Senators to push for these strong energy efficiency standards and enable energy efficiency to drive down the cost of climate legislation, create jobs, conserve energy, and save families and businesses money.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES)

Energy efficiency programs in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) will help put America on the fast track to a clean energy economy, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, reduce our fossil fuel dependency, and drive down utility bills for businesses and families.

Energy-efficiency elements in the bill include:

  1. An energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) requiring utility companies to reduce their energy usage by 5-8 percent through efficiency measures. In order to meet this standard (versions of which are already used in 19 states), utilities would provide incentives and assistance to help customers make their homes and businesses more energy-efficient;
  2. Codes and standards for buildings and appliances; and
  3. Allowances given to utility companies to ease the initial impact of cap and trade that are allocated specifically for energy efficiency measures.