The recently-released Dingell-Boucher Discussion Draft resurrects the issue of climate change legislation for the new 111th Congress, recalling such matters as the price of carbon, and - of particular interest to the Alliance - provisions for energy efficiency.

Here, the Alliance gives a first impression of this climate discussion draft, and offers a detailed summary of the drafts's potential for instigating real change on the Hill and beyond. An updated side-by-side comparison of various climate bills is coming soon.

Alliance president Kateri Callahan with Congressman Steve Israel and National Grid’s Ed Carr at a special Associates breakfast in New York where the Congressman discussed the importance of good energy policy in today’s volatile financial climate and what we might expect in the 111th Congress.

October 17 – This morning I had the great honor of moderating an international panel at the World Leadership Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, hosted by the International Women’s Forum.

President Bush recently signed into law new consumer tax credits for energy efficiency home improvements, as well as purchases of plug-in hybrid vehicles. These provisions were included in H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which the president signed on October 3, 2008. The homeowner tax credits are largely the same – but not identical – to those that expired at the end of 2007, and begin again on January 1, 2009.

For details on the consumer tax credits, check out our recently updated Energy-Efficiency Home and Vehicle Tax Credits web page.

At the University of California-Irvine, Alliance to Save Energy Green Campus Interns and volunteers continue their award-winning Fume Hood Use campaign, also known as “Shut the Sash.”

Students monitor energy usage of the laboratory equipment by measuring the distance by which fume hoods are left open when not in use. With 1,041 fume hoods all over campus, each using about 3.5 times as much energy as a house, UC Irvine has some major energy vampires.  Using a collaborative approach that educates teaching assistants and lab users, the campus has saved over 80,000 lbs of CO2 and $13,000 every quarter since the fall of 2005 through their Fume Hood Use campaign alone.

The Alliance is pleased to introduce a new series of state policy briefs on energy efficiency entitled State Energy Efficiency Policies: Options and Lessons Learned.

The policy briefs are specifically designed to provide state officials and those who track and analyze state legislation with a concise review of the policy options available to state governments for promoting energy efficiency. The series will also highlight “lessons learned” taken from the experiences state governments have had with these policies.

The first of 12 briefs to be released over the coming weeks, Funding Mechanisms for Energy Efficiency, explores the four major ways in which states can fund energy efficiency programs.

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