Statement for the Record on Appliance Standard and Light Bulb Legislation

Statement by Kateri Callahan, President, The Alliance to Save Energy

U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources:
Full Committee Hearing: S.398- Bill to amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to Improve Energy Efficiency of Appliances and Equipment and S.395- The Better Use of Light Bulbs Act

March 10, 2011

On behalf of The Alliance to Save Energy, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the many benefits S.398, the Implementation of National Consensus Appliance Agreements Act of 2011 and on the harm to the nation that would result from repealing the earlier standards on lighting via S.395, the Better Use of Light Bulb Act.

The Alliance to Save Energy is a non-profit coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders. We support energy efficiency as a cost-effective energy resource under existing market conditions and advocate energy-efficiency policies that minimize costs to businesses and to individual consumers. Energy efficiency is America’s cleanest, fastest, cheapest, and most abundant energy resource.

It is vital to the future of our energy system that this committee put its full support behind INCAAA. This bill would codify the consensus appliance standards created by the appliance manufacturers, efficiency advocates, states and consumer groups. It contains improved standards for HVAC systems, including furnaces, heat pumps and air conditioners, which take advantage of the latest technologies and efficiency potential. It also would improve standards for many currently covered home appliances, such as refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, dryers, and dishwashers to maximize cost-effective energy savings. In addition, it would create new standards for some previously overlooked products, including some inefficient types of outdoor lighting.

Our colleagues at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy estimate that INCAAA would, by 2030, save the United States about 850 trillion Btus of energy each year – roughly the energy use of 4.6 million homes. That’s more energy than was used by the entire state of Connecticut or West Virginia in 2008. According to these estimates, the net economic savings to consumers would be $43 billion through 2030. Because consensus appliance standards have historically enjoyed bipartisan support, INCAAA presents an opportunity for Congress to achieve real savings for taxpayers while increasing business competitiveness – a win, win in today’s economy.

Among the specific products addressed in the bill are some key energy users:

• Residential appliances – refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, dishwashers and room air conditioners
• Residential heating, cooling, and water heating equipment – furnaces, central air conditioners, and heat pumps; and
• Certain types of commercial outdoor lighting.

In addition, the agreements include some important changes to improve and expedite the Department of Energy appliance standards program, and needed technical corrections to standards enacted in 2005 and 2007.

INCAAA represents the sixth set of consensus standards to come before Congress to date, the first of which were signed into law by President Reagan in 1987 and again in 1988, followed by standards signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and President George W. Bush in 2005 and 2007. INCAAA builds on the success of existing standards, which according to analysis by ACEEE have created over 340,000 net jobs.

As you can see from the numbers I have cited, the appliance standards program is critical for improving energy and economic efficiency. In 2010 alone, appliance standards reduced national non-transportation energy use by 7 percent- more than the annual energy consumption of the state of New York. Enactment of S. 398 will reduce energy use, save consumers money, improve the environment, and create new jobs.

The Alliance would also like to strongly urge the committee to reject S.395. The standard would not ban incandescent bulbs as it has been reported; it merely requires bulbs to meet a minimum level of energy efficiency, a common requirement for many appliances. The standard has already spurred innovation in the field of advanced lighting technologies. General Electric, Phillips, and Sylvania have all developed advanced incandescent light bulbs that are now available on the market that meet the standard before it takes effect, and are already available in California.

The new standards expand consumer choice. In addition to the new energy-efficient incandescents, consumers will also be able to choose from CFLs and LEDs. Those choices will give consumers a myriad of lighting options that meet their color, brightness and other light bulb preferences while using less energy.

Ninty percent of the energy in traditional incandescent bulbs is wasted as heat. The standard will save more than $10 billion per year (roughly the same as all homes in Texas combined). Many of these new advanced incandescent bulbs and florescent bulbs are made in the US or made of US-manufactured components.

Over the course of 30 years, the more efficient lighting is expected to:

• Provide electric bill savings of more than $10 billion per year (roughly the same as all homes in Texas combined)
• Provide energy savings equivalent to the production of 30 large power plants; and
• Mitigate global warming pollution of approximately 100 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.
   

By approving S.398 and rejecting S.395, the Committee will advance the United States as an international leader on energy efficiency. Additionally, these actions will help to save thousands of jobs as well as billions of dollars in energy costs based on the research cited above. I urge the committee to vote in favor of achieving savings for taxpayers through energy efficiency.

Thank you for your consideration of my testimony.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kateri Callahan
President
The Alliance to Save Energy