*LATEST NEWS*
On February 8, 2006, the Vermont House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass an energy efficiency standards bill that includes furnace and boiler standards as well as a provision allowing for the addition of new product standards in the future. The bill now goes to the Vermont Senate for approval.
On January 27, 2006 Vermont's House Natural Resources Committee recommended passage of an energy efficiency standards bill. The legislation now moves to the full House for consideration. An article recently published by the Burlington Free Press contains more information.
On November 22, 2005 Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed an energy efficiency standards bill that will reduce electricity use by about 700,000 megawatt-hours per year by 2020 (equivalent to the average use of about 100,000 households). For more information, please read the press release.
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This summer, Congress passed the Federal Energy Bill which included energy efficiency standards for 15 new products. These new energy efficiency standards will reduce electricity consumption in Northeast states by 11,000 gigawatt-hours by 2020, which is equivalent to the electricity use of 1.5 million households. Peak electricity demand will be reduced by 3,000 megawatts and natural gas consumption will go down by almost 20,000 billion BTUs (quarter million households). These savings will translate into economic benefits of over 11 billion dollars.
Many of the efficiency standards included in the legislation were added during the past year as a result of state work on efficiency standards. Over the past 3 years, several Northeast states, including Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Maryland, adopted many of the efficiency standards subsequently included in the federal bill.
Despite the many new federal efficiency standards, there remain significant opportunities for states to act. The federal bill did not cover several efficiency standards that are included in the state bills. If Northeast states enact the efficiency standards that have not been preempted, the Northeast would realize an additional reduction of 6,000 gigawatt-hours. More importantly, during a time when natural gas and heating oil prices are rising, natural gas consumption would be reduced by an additional 20,000 billion BTUs and heating oil use by 5,000 billion BTUs. These additional savings would mean another 7.5 billion in economic benefits.
This site includes state specific benefits charts that show the large potential energy savings from efficiency standards.
Click here for more Standards news.
The Northeast States Minimum Efficiency Standards Project
What it is:
The Northeast States Minimum Efficiency Standards Project was established by NEEP in 2001 to assess opportunities to increase energy efficiency through new and updated minimum appliance and equipment efficiency standards. The project evolved into its current form as a regional coalition of consumer, environmental and energy efficiency groups advocating for the enactment of state energy efficiency standards1 for a range of commercial and residential products.
Currently, standards legislation is pending in a number of states in the Northeast region (CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT). For updates, please check out the Breaking News section above, or click here for more updates.
Why it was formed (backgrounder):
Following the prompting of several states throughout the 1970s and '80s, federal energy efficiency standards were established in 1987 through the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act. In the years since, however, the federal standards program has failed to keep up with technological progress and the development of many energy-saving products, missing the opportunity for energy savings to be attained through updated standards. With the federal government not having set any new efficiency standards since 1992, states are once again taking the lead.
Energy efficiency standards for these products will:
- Provide economic benefits to individual consumers, the state and the region.
- Improve the reliability of the electricity grid.
- Mitigate causes and effects of global climate change.
- Improve air and water quality by reducing the emissions of pollutants that form smog and acid rain.
State efficiency standards DO NOT conflict with existing federal standards. Although this is a regional effort, each state's bill is a stand-alone piece of legislation, but each contains the same proposed standards. The project is coordinated at the regional level to maximize momentum and the potential benefits of such legislature.
Regional adoption of equipment standards will maximize the benefits of energy efficiency, helping to stabilize energy prices, lower electricity demand and reduce harmful emissions. The potential reduction in peak demand by 2020 that can be gained through energy efficiency standards - over 3,400 megawatts - is equivalent to the output of 10 power plants generating 300 megawatts each. Moreover, efficiency standards have the potential to save consumers and businesses nearly $12.6 billion, reduce annual carbon emissions by over 1,900 metric tons, and reduce annual nitrogen oxide emissions by over 2,000 metric tons, which equates to removing 90,000 cars from the road.
Click below to get more information on individual states.
Connecticut Benefits Chart Fact Sheet Maine Benefits Chart Fact Sheet Maryland Benefits Chart Fact Sheet Massachusetts Benefits Chart Fact Sheet New Hampshire Benefits Chart Fact Sheet * New Jersey Benefits Chart Fact Sheet New York Benefits Chart Fact Sheet Pennsylvania Benefits Chart Fact Sheet * Rhode Island Benefits Chart Fact Sheet Vermont Benefits Chart Fact Sheet * information forthcoming
Accessing the Energy Efficiency Standards Report
NEEP worked with the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) to draft a comprehensive report which analyzes the projected benefits by 2020 of new minimum energy efficiency standards for 15 available products. Entitled Energy Efficiency Standards: A Low-Cost, High Leverage Policy for Northeast States, the report shows significant benefits to Northeast states, including reductions in electric energy requirements, projected growth in peak demand and consumers' energy bills. From an environmental perspective, significant reductions are projected in the emission of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides due to lessened demand for energy generation. Hard copies of the report Energy Efficiency Standards: A Low-Cost, High Leverage Policy for Northeast States are available by contacting Isaac Elnecave. These are Acrobat (.pdf) files:
The body of the report | 36 pages Methodology | 7 pages Tables & sources | 4 pages Background | 3 pages Federal product standards | 2 pages Proposed product standards | 1 page Product availability | 3 pages Three studies | 2 pages
Natural Resources Defense Council
National Association of State PIRGs
Environment Northeast
Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, Inc.
National Consumer Law Center
Appliance Standards Awareness Project
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
For more information regarding the project, contact Project Manager Isaac Elnecave
at 781-860-9177, ext. 23 or by e-mail at ielnecave@neep.org.
1 NEEP serves as project coordinator and not a lobbying organization.