Energy futureEnergy bill to save U.S. more than $400 billion between now and 2030

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) estimates that the energy efficiency portions of the energy bill which passed the Senate are more than triple the savings from legislation passed by Congress in 2005, and more than seven times the savings from legislation passed in 1992. These provisions will save U.S. consumers and businesses more than $400 billion between now and 2030, accounting for both energy cost savings and the moderately higher cost of energy-efficient products. These provisions will reduce U.S. energy use in 2030 by 7 percent and U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 by 9 percent, relative to the 2007 Department of Energy forecast. Note that two provisions were dropped from the bill yesterday — an energy efficiency and renewable energy portfolio standard, and extensions of energy efficiency and renewable energy tax incentives. If these provisions had not been dropped, 2030 energy savings would have been about 11 percent greater.

About 60 percent of the energy savings in the bill come from the first significant increase in car and light truck fuel economy standards in two decades, as well as initiation of a program to develop fuel economy standards for medium and heavy trucks. Other major energy savings provisions are new efficiency standards for lamps, appliances, and other products (accounting for about 22 percent of the 2030 savings), a new commercial building program designed to dramatically reduce commercial sector energy use over several decades (about 8 percent of the savings), and a strengthened program to address energy-intensive industries (7 percent of the savings).

Details on ACEEE’s analysis can be found at the organization’s Web site. This is a preliminary analysis. Relative to earlier ACEEE analyses, some of the savings estimates were modified based on changes in the bill and use of newly available data and estimates.