Showing posts with label legislature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legislature. Show all posts

Five Groups Urging Support for US Energy Efficiency Bill

A number of groups have written joint letters demanding that the federal government pass energy efficiency legislation currently working its way through Congress. On April 18, 2013, Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. COONS, and Ms. COLLINS) read the bill known as the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013. It was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resource.

The five groups that signed the letter are:
The Alliance to Save Energy
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)
Business Roundtable
The National Association of Manufacturers
US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy

The letters state that the Act enjoys strong, bipartisan support and should serve as the foundation for a comprehensive national energy policy.

The White House letter encourages the administration to maintain energy efficiency as a top priority in shaping energy policy for the country. It describes the president’s target of doubling the country’s energy productivity by 2030, which was issued in the most recent State of the Union, as an “ambitious but achievable goal…best met through deployment of energy efficiency.”

Some of the signatories to these letters had previously released reports that substantiate the value of the bill.

The Alliance to Save Energy’s Energy2030 report, calls on the nation to invest, modernize, and educate in order to reach a goal of doubling US energy productivity by 2030.

BPC’s report America’s Energy Resurgence: Sustaining Success, Confronting Challenges, includes more than 50 consensus-based recommendations on policy options to diversify energy production, including through cost-effective energy efficiency.

The energy efficiency bill calls for:
  • strengthening national model building codes to make new homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient while working with states and private industry to make the code-writing process more transparent
  • Providing competitive funding to states in support of commercial building energy-efficiency financing; 
  • Encouraging the Department of Energy to work with private sector partners to invest in the research, development and commercialization of innovative energy-efficient technology and processes for industrial applications
  • Establishing a volunteer Energy Department program – SupplySTAR – to help improve the efficiency of corporate supply chains.
© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Comprehensive Summary of US Green Legislation

It is essential for businesses to keep abreast of the legal imperatives that impinge on their operations. Keeping up with green legislation in the US is no easy task. To help make this effort easier, Greenful has put together a comprehensive summary of environmental legislation from the Clean Air Act (CAA) which was passed in 1967 to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (Cafe) of 2012. Here are 27 links that cover all major green legislation and related amendments:



  • Clean Air Act
  • Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990
  • Clean Air Act PM2.5 Update December 2012
  • Clean Water Act
  • Atomic Energy Act
  • Toxic Substances Control Act
  • Endangered Species Act
  • Environmental Justice for Low-Income Populations
  • Protection of Children from Environmental Risks and Safety Risks
  • Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
  • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
  • Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) (Ocean Dumping Act)
  • National Environmental Policy Act
  • Nuclear Waste Policy Act
  • Oil Pollution Act
  • Pollution Prevention Act
  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
  • Safe Drinking Water Act
  • Shore Protection Act
  • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund)
  • Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008
  • Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
  • Energy Policy Act of 2005
  • Energy Policy Act of 1992
  • Surface Transportation Acts
  • Alternative Motor Fuels Act
  • Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Final Rule 2012

  • Mexico Passes Climate Change Law

    The Mexican legislature has recently passed a climate change law. As reported in Nature, the new  law will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30 percent below business-as-usual levels by 2020, and by 50 percent below 2000 levels by 2050. The law also mandates that Mexico will derive 35 percent of its electricity from renewable resources 2024. The climate change bill passed Mexico’s lower house with a vote of 128 for and 10 against and in the Senate the legislation passed unanimously.

    The strong support in both the house and the Senate suggests the Mexico's legislators are not concerned about the country's fossil fuel industry. According to U.S. based petroleum consultancy DeGolyer and MacNaughton, the country sits on the world’s third-largest petroleum reserves.

    This legislation is much needed as Mexico is both the world's 11th largest economy and
    11th largest GHG emitter.

    The next hurdle will be ensuring that this legislation is acted upon. "We're very good at making laws. And then the problem is enforcing them," Juan Bezaury, a Mexican public policy expert with the Nature Conservancy, told Nature.

    © 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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