WHEREAS, The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
(NARUC) has a
long history of supporting appliance and equipment energy efficiency
standards, including
resolutions adopted in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2004, because of the
benefits energy
efficiency standards provide to energy consumers, energy utility companies,
and society as a
whole; and
WHEREAS, The General Accounting Office issued a report in January 2007
(GAO-07-42) that
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has missed all 34 congressional
deadlines for setting
energy efficiency standards for 20 product categories. The report stated
that “Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory estimates that delays in setting standards for the four
consumer product
categories that consume the most energy––refrigerators and freezers, central
air conditioners and
heat pumps, water heaters, and clothes washers––will cost at least $28
billion in forgone energy
savings by 2030;” and
WHEREAS, Appliance and equipment efficiency standards are among the most
cost effective
means of achieving energy efficiency, leading to reduced energy bills for
residential and business
consumers, pollution reduction, job growth, improved reliability and reduced
demand pressure
on energy prices; and
WHEREAS, Analysis of DOE estimates by the American Council for an Energy
Efficient
Economy (ACEEE) indicates that already enacted and adopted national
appliance and equipment
and efficiency standards will by 2020 result in a cumulative net savings of
$416 billion for U.S.
businesses and consumers and reduce annual electricity use by 672 terawatt
hours per year (15%
of projected annual electricity use in 2020), reduce peak electricity demand
by 211 gigawatts
(15% of projected 2020 demand levels) and cut national carbon dioxide
emissions by 536 million
metric tons (7.7% of total U.S. projected emissions in 2020); and
WHEREAS, Analysis of DOE and independent data by the ACEEE shows that cost
effective
upgrades to the 25 standards due through 2011 have the potential to generate
an additional net
savings for U.S. consumers and businesses of $60 billion through 2030,
reduce annual electricity
consumption by 165 terawatt hours, reduce annual natural gas consumption by
about 240 billion
cubic feet, reduce peak electricity demand by 60,000 megawatts and cut
annual carbon dioxide
emissions by 150 million metric tons; and
WHEREAS, Standards for seven products: linear fluorescent lamps,
incandescent reflector
lamps, residential water heaters, refrigerators and freezers, residential
central air conditioners and
heat pumps, residential clothes washers, and residential furnace fans make
up about 70% of the
estimated total savings; and
WHEREAS, The linear fluorescent and incandescent reflector lamps standard
has the potential
to save more energy than any other standard ever set by the DOE (58 terawatt
hours and $800
million in annual savings in the year 2020); and
WHEREAS, Economic concerns and climate change issues are at the forefront of
national and
State agendas, the importance of standards as a contributing solution should
be recognized; now,
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Board of Directors of the National Association of
Regulatory Utility
Commissioners (NARUC), convened at its 2009 Winter Committee Meetings in
Washington,
D.C., urges the U.S. Department of Energy to expeditiously promulgate and
implement new
national standards for linear fluorescent lamps, incandescent reflector
lamps, residential water
heaters, refrigerators and freezers, residential central air conditioners
and heat pumps, residential
clothes washers, and residential furnace fans that achieve the greatest
level of cost-effective
energy savings, which will result in a net reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That NARUC urges DOE to establish the greatest level of cost
effective energy
savings for the remaining 18 products on DOE’s rulemaking schedule through
2011.
__________________________________________________
Sponsored by the Committees on Energy Resources and the Environment,
Electricity, and Water
Adopted by the NARUC Board of Directors February 18, 2009