RENEW urges support of Energy Efficiency Resource Standard

Along with the Citizens Utility Board, Sierra Club - John Muir Chapter, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, RENEW Wisconsin sent the following letter:

Dear Senator Kohl and Senator Feingold:

We are writing to urge your support and leadership for a strong national Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS). An EERS will save Americans money and create green jobs in these difficult economic times.

Energy efficiency is the cheapest, cleanest, smartest and most readily available source of American energy. American business owners, academic experts, and states agree: Energy efficiency programs are the most effective way to fast‐track efforts to reduce our overall energy usage, affordably expand the use of renewable energy sources and address climate change. But the current Senate energy bill, S. 1462, the American Clean Energy Leadership Act (ACELA), does not do enough to help Americans tap the energy efficiency potential at their fingertips.

We are deeply concerned ACELA does not include a stand‐alone EERS. The approach of incorporating a small efficiency component into a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) is no substitute. Indeed, the provisions in the bill will fail to use the potential of an EERS to reduce consumer costs and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy for America. The policy landscape on energy efficiency in this country has changed significantly in the last several years and the 15 percent RES with up to 4 percent for energy efficiency is an artifact from the past. Nineteen states currently have an EERS that, collectively, will reduce overall energy use in the U.S. by about 5 ercent by 2020, makingmaking the provisions in ACELA only slightly more than business as usual and mostly ineffective.