What Happened?
The U.S. Senator recently passed The Energy Improvement Act of 2015 that reintroduced strategies to strengthen the economy while reducing pollution.
The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act
The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015 is designed to promote energy savings in residential and industrial buildings while simultaneously spurring economic growth in the green energy sector. The act projects a $4.6 billion yield in annual energy savings by 2030 without any increase in taxes or government mandates. The bill aims to create jobs and reduce energy use in the built environment, which is the largest consuming energy sector in the country.
The bill outlines four provisions that will create jobs, increase domestic manufacturing competitiveness and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Because the bill incentivizes investments in green building and energy efficiency, long-term sustainability benefits are expected.
The four provisions include:
- A voluntary, market-driven approach to aligning the interests of commercial building owners and their tenants to reduce energy consumption
- Exempts for certain electric resistance water heaters used for demand response from upcoming U.S. Department of Energy regulation
- Federal agencies work together to develop and implementation strategies for state and local agencies to follow through best practices, measurement and verification techniques
- Federally-leased buildings without Energy Star labels should benchmark and disclose their energy usage data
With regard to the development of best practices for building efficiency, the bill calls for specific guidelines on maintenance, purchasing and use of energy efficient information technologies.
EPA’s Energy Star Leaders
Many cities across the country have already deployed energy saving strategies to boost the efficiency of the built environment. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Top 25 Cities for 2015 ranks metropolitan areas across the country that have the most Energy Star certified buildings. In 2008, Los Angeles was the only city to have more than 200 buildings certified through the program. In 2014, the top eight cities all house more than 200 certified buildings including:
- Washington, DC: 480
- Los Angeles: 475
- Atlanta: 328
- New York: 299
- San Francisco: 292
- Chicago: 251
- Dallas-Fort Worth: 248
- Houston: 235
According to the EPA, more than 25,000 commercial buildings have earned the Energy Star certification since 1999, which has generated more than $3.4 million in savings on utility bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity needed to power 2.4 million homes.
How To Get Certified
For a building to be Energy Star certified, it must perform better than 75 percent of similar buildings nationwide and use an average of 35 percent less energy and emit 35 percent fewer emissions than standard buildings.
On average, commercial buildings waste 30 percent of energy consumed. To achieve Energy Star certification status, cities and building owners should consider a variety of tactics to cut waste:
- Invest in appliance upgrades that pay back their initial costs in energy savings
- Reach out to tenants to encourage more conservative energy use behavior
- Work with an energy expert to identify areas of energy waste
- Install renewable energy systems
Furthermore, many local and state agencies offer incentive programs to help building owners take a comprehensive approach to energy efficiency and purchase energy-saving products.