Bill promotes conservation, efficiency investments

By supporting new energy-efficient technologies, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides venues for the government to offer every American better energy security at lower costs. More money is being spent on energy-efficiency research today than ever before, said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in praising the passage of the landmark legislation. Here's a rundown on the bill's conservation and efficiency investment provisions:

• Promoting residential efficiency. Technology offers the possibility of a "zero-energy" home. The average American home loses between 10 and 50 percent of its energy through inadequate insulation and inefficient lights and appliances. The law supports research that promotes advances in energy efficiency and offers consumers tax credits for making energy-efficiency improvements in their homes.
• Increasing appliance and commercial product efficiency. The law sets new minimum energy-efficiency standards for a range of consumer and commercial products, including heaters, refrigerators, and lighting units. It also encourages the sale and production of energy-efficient products, which increases the supply of available energy, helping families meet their bottom lines. Tax credits are available for highly efficient central air conditioners, heat pumps, and water heaters, as well as to upgrade thermostats, install exterior windows and stop energy waste.
• Reducing Federal government energy use. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 calls on Federal agencies to lead by example and improve their energy efficiency. It reauthorizes the Energy Savings Performance Contract program, which allows private contractors to help Federal agencies improve the energy efficiency of their facilities. The bill also sets aggressive new goals for Federal energy efficiency and requires agencies to purchase Energy Star products.
• Modernizing domestic energy infrastructure. The legislation helps modernize our aging energy infrastructure to help reduce the risk of large-scale blackouts and minimize transmission bottlenecks. This is accomplished by repealing outdated rules that discourage investment in new infrastructure, offering tax incentives for new transmission construction and encouraging development of new technologies, such as superconducting power lines, to make the power grid more efficient.
• Diversifying the nation's energy supply with renewable sources. The new law promotes the use of renewable energy sources with tax credits for wind, solar and biomass energy, including the first-ever tax credit for residential solar energy systems. The law also expands research into developing hydrogen technologies and establishes a flexible, national Renewable Fuels Standard to encourage greater use of renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel.
• Supporting a new generation of energy-efficient vehicles. The legislation provides up to $3,400 per energy-efficient hybrid, clean-diesel, and fuel-cell vehicle in tax credits to consumers who purchase these cars, based on their fuel savings potential. Some of these cars can travel twice as far as conventional vehicles on one gallon of fuel, reducing U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources while producing lower emissions.

Note: Originally printed in Western's employee publication, Sept. 9, 2005.