ACEEE
NEWS RELEASE
ACEEE
ADVISES SENATE ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND NATURAL GAS POLICY
For further information,
contact: Steven Nadel at 202-429-8873,
ext. 709 or Bill Prindle at
202-429-8873, ext. 710
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
January 24, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- American Council for an Energy-Efficient
Economy (ACEEE) Executive Director Steven Nadel presented recommendations
on the critical role that energy efficiency should play in natural
gas policy at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
natural gas policy conference today. ACEEE's recommendations are
based on comments provided to Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) on January
7. This filing can be found at: http://aceee.org/energy/natlgas.htm.
In his testimony, Nadel emphasized two major points:
- Energy
efficiency policy action is the best way to bring down natural
gas prices over the next five years. Recent ACEEE analysis, using
the same computer models employed by the National Petroleum Council,
showed that reducing natural gas and electricity by 4–5% over
the next five years could reduce gas prices by about 25% before
2010, saving over $100 billion for American consumers and businesses.
- The Senate
energy bill from 2004 (S. 2095) contained sound building blocks
for such an effort, but new measures should also be added in the
areas of appliance efficiency standards, an efficiency resource
standard that would set energy savings targets for utilities,
and tax incentives for consumers' largest gas-saving opportunities.
ACEEE's full list of recommended policy solutions includes: setting
end-use efficiency resource targets for electric and gas utilities;
creating tax incentives for high-efficiency technologies; accelerating
federal appliance efficiency standards; supporting advanced building
energy codes; expanding support for combined heat and power (CHP);
increasing funding for energy efficiency research, development,
and deployment; and conducting a national efficiency and conservation
campaign.
ACEEE research results have shown that energy efficiency is the
most viable near-term strategy for moderating natural gas prices,
and is vital for stabilizing longer-term gas markets. Our proposal
is based on a recent ACEEE analysis, which illustrated that if we
reduce gas and electricity demand by 4–5% over the next five years,
we would reduce wholesale natural gas prices by more than 25%. These
savings would put over $100 billion back into the U.S. economy at
a cost of $30 billion in new investment, of which less than one-quarter
would be federal and state public funds.
Moreover, this investment would help bring back U.S. manufacturing
jobs that have been lost to high gas prices, and would help relieve
the crushing burden of natural gas costs experienced by many lower-income
households. Importantly, much of the gas savings in our analysis
comes from electricity efficiency measures, because so much electricity
is generated by natural gas, often inefficiently.
Along with this filing, other key natural gas research results
and references are available on ACEEE's Web site at http://aceee.org/energy/natlgas.htm.
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About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, contact ACEEE, 529 14th Street N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20045 or visit www.aceee.org.
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