A Time to Act Indeed

The State Energy Office A Time to Act 6th Annual Conference was a success. I would like to share with you a few things I learned these past two days:

Approximately $76 Million are filtering through the State Energy Office. A chunk of the monies will go to small towns, and approximately 12% will be used for general programs and state initiatives. The Department of Energy approves the state plan for use of energy efficiency funding through the State Energy Office on May 12th—so look for more information to come!

The Priorities for the State Energy Office use of the energy efficiency funding is to support small businesses through energy savings and green work, to relieve government spending through energy efficiency, and to relieve the general public through residential building energy efficiency.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is not the only climate legislation on which Congress is working. These are some other pieces that are being discussed this year:
House

• CAP and Trade—reduces CO2 20% below 2005 levels by 2020
• Low Carbon Fuel Standard—10% below 2005 by 2030
• Renewable Electricity Standard—similar to NC’s Portfolio standard; 25% Renewable Energy by 2025
• Energy Efficiency Resource Standard—similar to NC’s Building Standard; by 2020, reduce electricity by 15% and natural gas by 10%

Senate

• Renewable Electricity Standard—25% renewable energy by 2025; unclear whether this bill will be tied to House’s similar bill
• Transmission Standard---priority access to renewable energy
• National Building Code Standard
• Fossil Fuel Vehicle Mandate—50% reduction; starting in 2012, increasing 10% in fossil fuels each year through 2017