New Energy Solutions News

BOSTON—From refrigerators to office water coolers to DVD players, new appliance energy efficiency standards could save the state’s consumers and businesses millions of dollars, ease pressure on high natural gas prices and heating oil, improve electric system reliability, and cut global warming pollution, according to a report released today by Evan Feinman, MASSPIRG Energy Associate and authored by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP).

“Energy efficiency standards are a win-win policy,” said Feinman. “Just last year the legislature enacted a fantastic appliance efficiency standards bill that will save Massachusetts citizens over a billion dollars and make serious cuts in pollution. We’re looking forward to further steps toward a more efficient energy future.”

According to the report, adopting the additional recommended standards in Massachusetts would result in annual savings reaching about 2.3 billion cubic feet natural gas (enough to heat about 31,000 typical households) and 535 million kilowatt hours of electricity by 2020. Electricity savings from the standards would cut peak electric demand by 66 megawatts in 2020, helping to defer the need for new power plants. Altogether, the energy savings from new standards would net energy consumers more than $78 million in savings over about twenty years.

“Advances in technology keep giving us opportunities to cut energy waste,” said Feinman. “We have the opportunity to save $78 million and eliminate about 925 million tons of air pollution. Supporting this type of legislation is really a no-brainer.”

Since 2004, ten states (AZ, CA, CT, MA, MD, NJ, NY, OR, RI and WA) have established new energy-saving standards covering between five and thirty products, most through new state legislation. Currently the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources (DOER) is conducting a rulemaking on the last efficiency measure passed and is set to conduct a study of future efficiency opportunities. Public interest advocates hope to see this report’s findings included in DOER’s study.

“The states are ‘leading the way’ when it comes to energy-saving standards,” said Andrew deLaski, Executive Director of ASAP and co-author of the report, referring to the new report’s title. “With consumers and businesses getting hammered by high energy prices and persistent worries about our nation’s addiction to imported energy, state policy-makers are looking to energy efficiency. It’s the cheapest, fastest, and safest way to meet our energy needs.”

By lowering natural gas use, the standards could help lead to lower energy prices. In a separate 2005 study, ACEEE found that a 2 to 4% reduction in natural gas use can reduce natural gas prices by 20% or more in tight market conditions. The recommended appliance efficiency standards would start saving natural gas immediately. If adopted nationally, the savings levels would grow to 340 billion cubic feet per year by 2020, about 1.3% of the U.S. Department of Energy’s projected national consumption for that year.

Products for which the report recommends state efficiency standards include: bottle-type water dispensers; DVD players, certain audio products; swimming pool pumps and heaters; hot tubs; and walk-in refrigerators. The new report provides details on each of the products for which new state standards make sense.

According to Feinman, standards are an “already proven successful” way to curtail energy waste. New standards can be set at the state or federal level, but states have nearly always acted first. States first set appliance and equipment efficiency standards in the 1970s and 1980s, leading eventually to federal standards for more than two dozen products. Based on U.S. Department of Energy data, these already existing standards will cut U.S. electricity use by nearly 8% by 2020.

The report relied on clear criteria for selecting recommended standards. Each recommended standard would result in significant energy savings and be very cost-effective (i.e. purchasers of the affected products would earn back any incremental cost to improve efficiency within one to three years for most products). In addition, products meeting the recommended standards are readily available today from multiple manufacturers and existing technical standards ease state implementation of such standards.

Leading the Way: Continued Opportunities for New State Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards including an online appendix of state-by-state impact data is available for free download at www.standardsASAP.org.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection. For information about ACEEE and its programs and other publications, visit http://aceee.org.

The Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) is a coalition group dedicated to advancing cost-effective energy efficiency standards for appliances and equipment. ASAP works at both the state and federal levels and is led by a Steering Committee with representatives from consumer groups, utilities, state government, environmental groups, and energy efficiency groups. For information about ASAP, contact ASAP, 20 Belgrade Avenue, Suite 1, Boston, MA 02131 or visit http://standardsASAP.org.

Additional Contacts
Andrew deLaski, ASAP, 617-363-9470
Isaac Elencave, NEEP, 781-860-9177 ext 23