(Washington, DC) – Today, the Senate passed legislation championed by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) to boost energy efficiency across the country. Their Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, better known as “Shaheen-Portman,” as well as Senator Shaheen’s Smart Manufacturing Leadership Act, the Heat Efficiency through Applied Energy Act and key provisions from her Clean Distributed Energy Grid Integration Act, were made a part of a larger energy bill that passed the Senate today. A targeted energy efficiency bill authored by Senators Shaheen and Portman was signed into law by President Obama in April of last year, making it the first significant energy-efficiency legislation to be signed into law in a generation.
“Senator Portman and I first introduced our energy efficiency bill five years ago,” said Shaheen. “Senate gridlock couldn’t keep this good policy down forever. I’m happy to say persistence has once again paid-off. When the President signed our more targeted energy efficiency bill into law last year, it proved that Washington can make progress on addressing our nation’s energy needs when politics is set aside. This larger energy efficiency bill represents another opportunity to help our nation improve energy productivity, reduce carbon pollution, create domestic jobs, save families and businesses money and grow our economy. I will continue to reach across the aisle to pass more common-sense energy efficiency bills because it’s good for our economy and it’s good for our environment. I want to thank Senator Portman again for his partnership on this important legislation.”
“Our energy efficiency bill helps create jobs, save consumers money on their energy bills, and clean up our environment,” Portman said. “This measure will help American manufacturing companies better compete with companies in Europe and Japan, keeping more jobs here and easing the middle class squeeze, while reducing carbon emissions equivalent to taking 20 million cars off the road. That’s a victory for all of us. A lot of hard work over the last five years went into passage of this bipartisan bill and I want to thank Senator Shaheen for being a true partner throughout this process”
According to a 2014 study conducted by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, by 2030 when fully enacted, the provisions in Shaheen-Portman would create nearly 200,000 jobs and save consumers $16 billion per year.
The underlying bill that passed today also included legislation to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which Senator Shaheen has strongly supported.
“I’m very pleased that LWCF has been put on a solid footing today and can move forward with long-term planning to preserve and protect New Hampshire’s beautiful spaces,” said Shaheen. “This is a big win for conservation, tourism and economic growth in New Hampshire.”
Shaheen’s energy efficiency legislation that passed the Senate today is part of the Energy Policy and Modernization Act:
The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, or Shaheen-Portman, advances smart, bipartisan federal policies to spur energy efficiency innovation across the most energy-intensive sectors of our economy. Provisions in Shaheen-Portman will create a national strategy to increase the use of energy efficiency through model building energy codes, promote development of energy efficient supply-chains for businesses, deploy energy-efficient technologies in schools and companies, and encourage the federal government to adopt and implement energy saving policies and programs to reduce its energy use and save taxpayers money.
Shaheen’s Smart Manufacturing Leadership Act, cosponsored by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), provides assistance to small- and medium-sized U.S. manufacturers in adopting what’s known as “smart manufacturing technologies.” Smart manufacturing uses technology to integrate all aspects of manufacturing, allowing for real-time management of productivity, energy and costs across factories and companies. These advanced technologies are transforming the manufacturing sector, allowing for businesses to manufacturer more while using less energy. According to a study by the ACEEE, by 2040, the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Act will save consumers $5 billion in energy savings, while reducing carbon emissions equivalent to taking 116 million cars off the road.
Shaheen’s Heat Efficiency through Applied Technology (HEAT) Act addresses the major regulatory barriers hampering the deployment of heat recovery technologies, such as combined heat and power (CHP) and waste heat to power (WHP). It does so by directing the Department of Energy to establish a federal framework that will help states develop solutions for meeting growing energy demands through heat efficient technologies, like CHP and WHP.
The Clean Distributed Energy Grid Integration Act, identifies and addresses obstacles limiting the use of clean energy technologies, thereby reducing energy costs and improving the power quality and resiliency of the electric grid. Specifically, the legislation directs the Department of Energy to identify the technical and regulatory barriers to integrating clean distributed energy sources on the grid, and to strive to overcome these barriers through research, stakeholder working groups and demonstrations.