January State Energy Efficiency Bulletin

Guest Highlight
Smart Growth as State Energy Policy: an Untapped Source for Efficiency Gains, By Jennifer Henry, U.S. Green Building Council.

Alliance to Save Energy Column
Appliance Standards in 2004: Cause for Celebration and Reproach.

State Updates
Legislative and Regulatory News from Arkansas, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Washington, Washington DC .

RECA Report
Get the latest on the work of the Responsible Energy Codes Alliance (RECA).

Smart Growth as State Energy Policy: an Untapped Source for Efficiency Gains

By Jennifer Henry, U.S. Green Building Council
With Amy Shatzkin, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Reducing our energy consumption in the transportation sector continues to be a challenge despite substantial progress on many fronts by the energy efficiency community over the last several decades, .  Improvements in fuel economy technology have occurred, yet  vehicles are still responsible for approximately 60 percent of our total carbon monoxide emissions, 30 percent of the chemicals that cause urban smog, 50 percent of our carcinogenic and toxic air pollutants, and 32 percent of our total emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas. 

Part of the quandary is the fact that Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) have been on the rise. According to Solving Sprawl, Models of Smart Growth in Communities across America, total VMT grew three times faster than population during the 1980s and 1990s.  Until we address land use development patterns, which have led to shifts away from densely populated urban centers, Americans will continue to be dependent on the automobile, and reducing energy from the transportation sector will continue to be a challenge. 

A Smart Solution
Smart growth—a term which encompasses a number of policies that encourage better community-building, more efficient land use patterns, and pedestrian-, bicycle-, and transit-oriented development—has been called the missing piece of the energy puzzle.  Any comprehensive state energy policy should take a hard look at the ways in which states can encourage smart growth.

Many studies have found that neighborhood characteristics such as compactness, walk-ability, bike-ability, and access to transit produce travel behavior that is far less energy consumptive than the sprawl patterns of development that have become the status quo in many parts of the country.  David Goldstein and Mary Jean Bürer of the Natural Resources Defense Council recently published a study which compared six smart growth developments with more average (3 dwelling units per acre) developments. 

They compiled the benefits of the potential savings, and applied them to the 24.3 million housing developments that are projected to take place in the U.S. between 2005 and 2015.  Goldstein and Bürer concluded that if these housing starts were developed as smart growth projects, assuming half were sited on previously undeveloped land and half in infill locations, then the total accumulated savings after 10 years would include:

•  977 trillion miles of travel reduced;
• 5,690,000 trillion Btu saved;
• 49.5 billion gallons of gasoline saved (44% of total US highway usage of gasoline in 2001);
• 1.18 billion barrels of oil saved  (20% of US production of oil in 2002); and
• 595 million metric tons of CO2 emissions reduced (which is 10% of total US emissions of global warming pollutants in 2001).

States Leading the Way
Capturing these dramatic potential savings is challenging for a number of reasons; one of the most important factors is that in the U.S., land-use and transportation planning is an extremely fractured process.  Every town, city, suburb, and county experiencing growth needs to be engaged in order to make smart growth happen, and this is why state policy can play a particularly critical role. 

State governments are uniquely poised to shape a municipality's ability to decide “where” and “how” communities are designed and built, as well as to influence priorities relating to transportation infrastructure.  The most comprehensive approaches have been taken by Oregon, whose land use program required the drawing of “urban growth boundaries” around many municipalities, encouraging compact and transit-oriented development within those boundaries; and by Maryland, which began a system of “priority funding” of areas designated for growth under Governor Glendening’s leadership. 

But even if similarly ambitious programs are not politically feasible in a given state, there are many other measures that can be taken at the state level to promote smart growth. 

• States can mandate action by state agencies to further smart growth goals.  For instance, the 2002 New York State Energy Plan prioritizes spending on public transportation and pedestrian and bicycle amenities, and New Jersey created a Smart Growth Policy Council to coordinate smart growth efforts between state agencies.  New Jersey also announced that the state's attorney general's office would provide legal support if a municipality were challenged for planning actions or land-use decisions that follow the New Jersey State Plan, which centers growth around existing metropolitan areas. 
  
  
• States can provide funding and grants to local governments to support smart growth efforts.  Illinois and Wisconsin have designated funds to support local planning activities to better integrate transportation and infrastructure facility planning and to coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions, respectively. 
  
  
• States can develop programs to influence the private sector.  Various states and localities have created programs that provide financial incentives for developers to build near transit or for home buyers to buy homes near their places of work or near transit.  New Jersey legislators have proposed a “Smart Growth Tax Credit” for developers who build near transit and in areas designated for growth by the state.  States also have targeted zones for redevelopment with tax incentives, and implemented policies to reduce the legal risk involved for developers who want to redevelop contaminated brownfields.

All of these programs can have a positive impact towards saving energy through smart growth, and every state should pursue smart growth to the greatest extent possible, using programs and policies that best fit its needs. 

• For more information on some of the programs mentioned above, please visit the website of the State Environmental Resource Center.
  
  
• For a List of Smart Growth Policy Ideas click here!
  

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Appliance Standards in 2004: Cause for Celebration and Reproach

By Kara Saul Rinaldi, Director of Policy

The growing divide between federal inaction and state action on appliance standards became ever more apparent last month.  On December 16th, the Department of Energy  (DOE), citing an impending Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirement that appliance standard rulemakings undergo a peer review prior to publication, issued a warning that several appliance rulemaking may be delayed by at least two years. This delay affects standards for residential furnaces and boilers; commercial air conditioners and heat pumps; and electric distribution transformers. 

In stark contrast to the federal government's inertia, the California Energy Commission (CEC) voted unanimously on December 15 to establish energy efficiency standards for 19 different products.  The standards will be phased in starting in 2006, and will apply to a wide range of appliances including hot tubs, external power supplies, swimming pool pumps, and light bulbs. According to the CEC, these standards will save the state of California over $3 billion in energy costs over fifteen years-- enough to eliminate the need for three new power plants after a decade. 

The CEC adopted these standards after extensive discussions with manufacturers and environmental advocates, and with the support of California utilities, led by Pacific Gas and Electric.  According to John Wilson, Advisor to Commissioner Art Rosenfeld, "The CEC can't afford to delay action on appliance standards because the savings help us meet our goals for reliable and clean energy supplies."

The Alliance to Save Energy applauds California for taking such impressive action to moderate energy use in the state. The Alliance policy team will  work with other states in 2005 to help them join the ranks of states such as California, Connecticut, and Maryland who are leading the U.S. towards a more efficient appliance marketplace.  We also will continue the fight to hold the federal government accountable to issuing and updating appliance standards in a timely manner.  

For more information on California appliance standards visit the California Energy Commissions website or Contact me at (202) 530-4348.

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