Washington, D.C. (December 4, 2012): Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that takes several steps to advance energy efficiency in the U.S. The American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act (H.R. 6582) modifies legislation that passed the Senate last month and returns to the Senate for final approval. “At a time that Washington is grid-locked, it is notable that the only energy bill with enough bipartisan support to pass is one that targets energy efficiency,” noted Steven Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “This bill is a modest but bipartisan step forward, one we hope the next Congress can build upon.”
The bill makes a number of technical corrections to equipment efficiency standards previously enacted by Congress, helping to make the program function better. In addition, the bill includes provisions to better coordinate industrial research and development activities among government agencies, reduce barriers to deployment of industrial energy efficiency, promote best practices for advanced metering among government agencies, and improve data collection for federal energy and water management efforts.
The bill passed by the House today is the result of negotiations between Republican and Democratic members in the House, building upon a bill originally introduced by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL). It builds upon two pieces of legislation that were previously reported out on a strong bipartisan basis by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. These are the Energy Savings and Industrial Competiveness Act (S. 1000) introduced by Senators Jean Shaheen (D-NH) and Robert Portman (R-OH) and the Implementation of National Consensus Appliance Agreements Act (S. 398) introduced by Energy Committee Chair Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).
About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, visit aceee.org.