ASERTTI News
Advocates Push Bill for Energy Efficient Housing
Incentives
As reported in E&E Daily, green building
advocates are calling on Congress to mandate new
efficiency standards for federal housing and to
encourage home and building owners to cut down on
their energy use. The bill from Representative Ed
Perlmutter (CO) would set new energy efficiency
standards for housing controlled by the Department
of Housing and Urban Development and give financial
incentives to lenders and financial institutions to
provide lower interest loans and other benefits to
consumers who build, buy or remodel their homes and
businesses to improve their energy efficiency. To
view the full bill, please
click here.
DOE and USDA Secretaries
Defend RFS
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Agriculture
Secretary Ed Schafer defended the recently expanded
biofuels mandate – Renewable Fuel Standard – against
charges that it is driving up food costs while
touting ethanol's role in moderating gasoline prices
by as much as 35 cents per gallon. As reported in
E&E Daily, in a letter to Energy and Natural
Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (NM), the two
secretaries say repealing the mandate would hinder
efforts to reduce oil import dependence and
greenhouse gas emissions. An analysis attached to
the letter pointed out that biofuels are responsible
for only a small amount of increases in U.S. food
prices, but the effect is growing. The analysis also
looks at the effects of U.S. biofuels consumption on
global commodity prices. A spokesman for Bingaman
said the DOE-USDA analyses "give Congress a solid
start in addressing some tough questions." For a
copy of the letter and analysis, please
click here.
House Bill to Improve
SPR and Fund EERE RD&D
On May 15, 2008, Congressman Nick Lampson (TX)
and 21 other Members of the House introduced a bill
that would modernize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
(SPR) and invest in alternative energy research. The
Invest in Energy Independence Act (IEIA)
provides $1 billion for alternative energy research
by generating new revenue through SPR modernization
and redirecting Department of Energy (DOE) resources
toward researching myriad forms of alternative
energy. The bill would direct the Secretary of
Energy to exchange 10 percent of light crude in the
SPR for heavy crude. The exchange will create new
revenue by capitalizing on the price differential
between light and heavy crude which averages $12 a
barrel (in April 2008 it was ~$15). The Alliance to
Save Energy, ASERTTI, and other organizations
offered statements in support of the bill when it
was introduced, and additional Congressional
co-sponsors are being sought. In addition to
offering our support, ASERTTI called for of funding
for state and local collaborative clean energy
projects to be added to the bill. A copy of
ASERTTI’s support letter can be accessed by
clicking here.
Industrial Technologies Program Launches Southeast
Initiative
On June 5, 2008, the DOE’s Industrial
Technologies Program sponsored a Southeast
Industrial Energy Efficiency Summit at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The
summit brought together industry officials from a
large range of manufacturing sectors, utility
executives, and representatives from state energy
offices from the Southeast region with DOE and
laboratory officials.
Blueprint for American Prosperity
The Brookings Institution’s Blueprint for
American Prosperity, a multi-year initiative to
promote an economic agenda for the nation that
builds on the assets—and centrality—of America’s
metropolitan areas, recently released, Shrinking
the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America.
The report examines Metropolitan America opportunity
to play a leadership role in addressing the energy
and environmental challenges presented as a result
of America’s expanding carbon footprint. As report
by Brookings, with a growing population and an
expanding economy, America’s settlement area is
widening, and as it does, Americans are driving
more, building more, consuming more energy, and
emitting more carbon. Rising energy prices, growing
dependence on imported fuels, and accelerating
global climate change make the nation’s growth
patterns unsustainable. Please
click here for a
link to 100 metropolitan area carbon footprint
profiles.
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