St. Paul, MN – A new national report finds that Minnesota households would save an average of $240 per year and 11,400 sustainable jobs would be created in the state over the next ten years if Congress acts now to include strong energy efficiency improvements in energy and climate legislation. The report, entitled Energy Efficiency in the American Clean Energy Security Act of 2009: Impacts of Current Provisions and Opportunities to Enhance the Legislation, was released by Environment Minnesota and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The efficiency provisions would prevent 6 million metric tons of global warming emissions; this is the equivalent of removing the pollution from over 1 million cars from the roads in Minnesota for a year. (www.environmentminnesota.org.)
“Americans know that energy efficiency is the cleanest, quickest, cheapest way of reducing our energy use and pollution,” concluded Samantha Chadwick, Environmental Associate with Environment Minnesota. “These common sense solutions will put cash back in our pockets and help protect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the future of the planet.”
The report also found that energy efficiency policies from the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), which passed the House of Representatives in June, would create 7,500 new jobs, save the average household $178 a year, and reduce annual carbon emissions by 4 million metric tons in Minnesota by 2020.
Against the backdrop of the Wilder Foundation - a new LEED Gold Certified energy efficient building in St. Paul, groups talked about benefits locally of existing efficiency projects.
“Minnesota has a long history of leadership in the areas of energy efficiency and energy conservation. In Xcel Energy’s service area alone, utility sponsored efficiency programs have avoided the need to build several large coal or nuclear power plants while saving consumers millions of dollars on their utility bills. A federal Energy Efficiency Resource Standard will complement policies already in place in this state while bringing the benefits of energy efficiency to millions in states across the country”, said Bill Grant, Associate Executive Director, Izaak Walton League of America.
“While the House bill is a critical first step in harnessing the power of energy efficiency, this report shows we can save even more money, create more jobs and reduce more pollution,” said Chadwick. “Senators Klobuchar and Franken should lead the fight for common sense energy efficiency policies and jumpstart the transition to a clean energy economy.”
According to Kristen Funk, Project Manager at The Center for Energy and the Environment (CEE), “The easiest and most cost-effective thing businesses and citizens of Minnesota can do to avert climate change and lower their energy costs is to implement energy efficiency.”
Ms. Funk manages the One-Stop Efficiency ShopSM which offers rebates to qualified businesses in the Xcel Energy service territory that retrofit their lighting to a more efficient system. The program is an excellent example of how energy efficiency can significantly impact Minnesota’s environment and economy. Since the start of the program in 2000, over 4,000 businesses have participated. They are saving $12 million annually, having reduced their demand by 46 MW and their energy use by 172,000,000 kWh. Implementation of these measures has generated $45 million in business for local contractors, creating jobs and stimulating demand for local products and services.
The groups called for policy improvements which would generate more than 569,000 clean energy jobs and save the average household $283 per year nationwide by 2020. These policy improvements would result in 48 percent more jobs and 32 percent more consumer savings than the efficiency measures in the House passed bill. In addition these improvements would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 480 million metric tons in 2020, equivalent to taking over 87 million cars off the road for a year.
Senators can maximize economic benefits to consumers by:
- Supporting a strengthened Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) requiring utility companies to reduce their energy usage by at least 10 percent by providing incentives and assistance to help customers make their homes and businesses more energy-efficient (ACES included a 5% EERS with an optional 3% increase).
- Modeling electric utility allocation on that of the natural gas utility allocation in ACES, by requiring that one-third be used for energy efficiency improvements.
- Extending the allocation of carbon allowance revenue to the State Energy and Environmental Development (SEED) provision.
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Environment Minnesota is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization working for clean air, clean water, and open space. www.EnvironmentMinnesota.org
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient America (ACEEE) is a nonprofit research organization
dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy
security, and environmental protection. For more information, see http://www.aceee.org.
The Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) is a nonprofit organization that works to promote public interest through the responsible and efficient use of natural and economic resources. CEE accomplishes this mission through program development and delivery, research and education and public policy initiatives.
CEE has provided energy, environmental and housing rehabilitation services to utilities, private corporations, neighborhood organizations, municipalities and public agencies for over twenty-five years. CEE's services have helped improve thousands of buildings and include financing, building audits, technical research and training, program design, delivery and evaluations. www.mncee.org/
ACEEE-Report.pdf