Policy Options for Reducing Industrial Natural Gas Demand

The following policy options would directly target industrial natural gas demand:

• National Commitment and Recognition Program – Create a presidential level commitment program for industry.Participating companies would commit to making a 10 percent reduction in natural gas demand through smart energy behavior and low-cost energy efficiency improvements.In exchange, as soon as a company could prove it had reached the goal, it would receive White House recognition for its achievement.
• Corporate Energy Management – Research indicates that establishing a corporate energy policy that sets performance goals almost always results in significant increased adoption of energy efficiency.DOE should create a new program to market the concept and provide assistance to companies to adopt energy-saving corporate policies that target reductions in natural gas usage.
• DOE’s Best Practices Program – Significantly expand DOE’s Best Practices Program, which helps industry improve the energy-saving performance of motor, air, and steam systems.A national marketing and publicity program would allow the program to reach more manufacturers.
• Energy Star Media Campaign – The Energy Star Program has been instrumental in reducing demand for household electricity use for heating, cooling, and appliances, reducing the need for natural gas to generate electricity.The Energy Star Program should be significantly expanded to include a national paid media campaign to ensure consumer awareness of the Energy Star label.
• Public Benefit Funds – Apply a small charge on natural gas bills to provide a pool of money that would be allocated to states (based on their matching the funding) to support market transformation and incentive programs to improve the energy efficiency of natural gas in industry.
• Federal Energy Management – The federal government is the nation’s single largest energy user.The government should lead by example by creating a special program target natural gas energy efficiency improvements in its 500,000 buildings, including provisions to encourage the use of private sector Energy Saving Performance Contracts.