ACEEE PRESS BRIEF
ACEEE APPLAUDS SENATE FOR PASSING ENERGY EFFICIENCY
PROVISIONS IN FARM BILL
For further information, contact: R. Neal
Elliott or Steven Nadel at 202-429-8873
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2002
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
(ACEEE) commends the U.S. Senate for passing the Energy Title in the Farm Bill
on February 13, 2002. The title provides energy efficiency and renewable audits,
loans, and grants to farmers. "We applaud the Senate for recognizing the
need to address energy issues in this important sector of our economy, which
has received far less attention than it deserves," said Steven Nadel, ACEEE's
Executive Director.
In particular, ACEEE is pleased to see the inclusion of a well-designed and
well-funded farm audit program aimed at encouraging the use of on-farm renewable
energy systems and identifying energy efficiency opportunities. The 1.9 million
farms in the United States paid more than $4.5 billion for energy in 1997 (the
most recent year for which U.S. Department of Agriculture data are available),
i.e., approximately 4 percent of total farm expenses. The bill's conservative
assumption is that 10 to 30 percent of farmers' energy costs could be saved,
resulting in $450 to $1,350 million in savings per year. "Senator Tom Harkin
(D-IA) and his staff are to be commended for authoring these provisions and
shepherding them though the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee,"
noted Neal Elliott, ACEEE's Industrial Program Director, who worked with Harkin's
staff on the development of the energy efficiency provisions.
"The proposed audit program doesn't take the one-size-fits-all strategy
too often seen with government programs," said Elliott. "The program
provides for a wide range of entities to compete for the program funds, and
the applicants are allowed significant latitude in the design of their programs.
This means that the audit can be tailored to meet the needs of a region's farmers
and that the program can be delivered by entities that have pre-existing relationships
with the farmers. This flexibility enhances the prospects that these program
funds will achieve substantial energy savings."
Funding is provided in the bill to support upwards of 30,000 audits per year
that could yield over $12 million in annual savings. While this number of audits
will reach only about 2 percent of all farms, ACEEE hopes that state and regional
initiatives will leverage these federal funds to reach an even larger share
of our nation's farmers.
The loan and grant portion of the title will also be useful. Of note is that
this portion is targeted at smaller farmers. This funding is particularly important
to family farms that are capital constrained due to recent hard times in the
agricultural markets. The $35 million grant pool could fund upwards of 40,000
grants, contributing annual total energy savings of over $14 million.
"While an energy title is not included in the House-passed Farm Bill,
we hope that the bipartisan support that this title received in the Senate will
lead House conferees to support inclusion of the energy title in the conference
report," concluded Nadel.
