Companies, green groups push for utility efficiency mandate

As discussions continue on more contentious language reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, businesses and environmentalists Wednesday called for Senate action on improving energy efficiency from electric utilities.

Fifty-seven businesses, environmental organizations and other groups say an energy efficiency mandate for utilities is “low-hanging fruit” that would create jobs and lower the nation’s energy bill by $100 billion, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the need for expanded electricity infrastructure.

Companies such as Nike, Starbucks and Target say they want a standard to be included in an evolving Senate energy strategy that might hit the floor next week, amid continuing discussions on whether it is feasible to try to move this year a first-time carbon-pricing plan focused on power plants.

“The most affordable alternative to continued use of carbon-intensive fossil fuels is energy efficiency,” the groups argue in a letter sent Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). 

They are seeking a standard that would decrease energy use by at least 1 percent annually in 2012 and ramp up to a higher standard by 2020.

Utilities could accomplish this by establishing efficiency programs for their customers and providing incentives to those investing in high-efficiency heating and air-conditioning systems, lighting, appliances, insulation, windows, building retrofits and combined heat and power systems, they say.

There are several Senate bills that promote energy efficiency “but none comes close” to saving 1 percent annually, the groups argue.

A draft energy and climate bill from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) includes up to a 33 percent efficiency investment requirement for natural gas utilities but none for electric utilities. An energy bill approved last year by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee includes a renewable electricity production mandate of 15 percent by 2020 that allows as much as 27 percent of that to be met through energy efficiency.

A June analysis by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) states that while the Kerry-Lieberman draft would save a little bit of energy annually, the Senate energy panel’s bill does not because the requirement is below business-as-usual projections.

Companies signing the letter also include Best Buy, eBay and Levi Strauss. Organizations on the letter include ACEEE, Environment America, Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council.