Washington, D.C., January 26, 2011 – The Alliance to Save Energy heralded President Obama’s commitment to “double investment in energy efficiency” in Fiscal Year 2012 as an action that will provide an immense return to U.S. consumers and businesses alike in terms of energy and money savings as well as enhanced energy security and resource conservation. The Alliance has called for this magnitude of federal investment in our nation’s “quickest, cheapest, cleanest” energy resource for much of the last decade.

“President Obama has carved out a key role for energy efficiency programs in achieving our nation’s overall economic goals,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “We commend the president’s plans to unleash the power of American ingenuity and innovation in the energy arena to move us towards economic recovery and continued global competitiveness.

“We look forward to working with Congress, on a bipartisan basis, to ensure that the president’s proposed Clean Energy Standard (CES) includes a prominent role for energy efficiency as a full and equal compliance option, as well as the important, complementary efficiency policies already identified,” Callahan said.

The White House shared that the CES would be “coupled with smart policies that will help American families and businesses save money by saving energy” and “paired with energy efficiency programs that will lower consumers’ energy bills,” including stronger appliance efficiency standards, tax credits for energy efficiency upgrades and Home Star – all initiatives which the Alliance supports.

The administration’s call for increased federal investments follows recent and significant increases in funding for utility-run energy efficiency programs in the U.S. The Alliance noted information released by the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) showing that in recent years, natural gas and electric utilities and states have substantially increased spending on energy efficiency to an investment of over $6.6 billion in 2010, more than 2.5 times as much as was spent in 2007.

The Alliance also welcomes the president’s plan to more than double total investment to date for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which will support “transformational and cutting edge energy research with real-world applications ranging from grid technology and power electronics to batteries and energy storage.”

Learn more about the administration's budget plans for energy efficiency programs on our page of White House fact sheets.

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The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, the economy and national security.