More News

PROVIDENCE—From light bulbs to office water coolers to DVD players, new appliance energy efficiency standards could save the state’s consumers and businesses millions of dollars, ease pressure on high natural gas prices and heating oil in New England, improve electric system reliability, and cut global warming pollution, according to a report released today by the Rhode Island Public Research Group (RIPIRG) and authored by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP).

In 2005 Rhode Island passed legislation setting standards for 13 common household and commercial products that will save energy consumers $225 million over the next 25 years. If this year’s legislation is passed the combined savings from appliance efficiency standards will top $350 million.

“Energy efficiency standards are a win-win-win policy,” said Matt Auten, Advocate with RIPIRG. “They save money, cut pollution and help wean us from imported energy sources. Representative Handy and Senator Roberts should be commended for passing energy saving legislation last year and by responding to the energy price crunch this winter by introducing legislation that will help save consumers even more.

According to the report, adopting the recommended standards in Rhode Island would result in annual savings reaching about 1,425 million cubic feet natural gas (enough to heat 19,000 typical households) and 116 Gigawat-hours electricity (equivalent to meet the electricity needs of 16,000 typical homes) by 2020.

Electricity savings from the standards in H-7610 and S-2844 would cut peak electric demand by 10.9 megawatts in 2020, helping to defer the need for new power plants. Altogether, the energy savings from new standards would net energy consumers more than $131 million in savings over about twenty years

Advances in technology keep giving us opportunities to cut energy waste,” said Auten. “Standards that improve the energy efficiency of common consumer products and commercial equipment are a cornerstone of a sensible energy policy. The good news for Rhode Islanders is that the General Assembly and Governor Carcieri have seen the light.”

Since 2004, ten states including Rhode Island (AZ, CA, CT, MA, MD, NJ, NY, OR, RI and WA) have established new energy-saving standards covering between five and thirty products, most through new state legislation. In August 2005, Congress took its cue from the states and made 15 of these state standards federal law. For the new report, the authors looked beyond those products addressed by Congress in 2005 and found another 15 products for which near-term state standards make sense. Most of these newly-recommended standards have already been adopted in one or more states.

“The states are ‘leading the way’ when it comes to energy-saving standards,” said Andrew deLaski, Executive Director of ASAP and co-author of the report, referring to the new report’s title. “With consumers and businesses getting hammered by high energy prices and persistent worries about our nation’s addiction to imported energy, state policy-makers are looking to energy efficiency. It’s the cheapest, fastest, and safest way to meet our energy needs.”

By lowering natural gas use, the standards could help lead to lower energy prices. In a separate 2005 study, ACEEE found that a 2 to 4% reduction in natural gas use can reduce natural gas prices by 20% or more in tight market conditions. The recommended appliance efficiency standards would start saving natural gas immediately. If adopted nationally, the savings levels would grow to 340 billion cubic feet per year by 2020, about 1.3% of the U.S. Department of Energy’s projected national consumption for that year.

Products for which the report recommends state efficiency standards include: bottle-type water dispensers; DVD players, certain audio products and external power supplies for electronics (a.k.a., “energy vampires”); reflector light bulbs and certain commercial light fixtures; swimming pool pumps and heaters; hot tubs; and walk-in refrigerators. Strong state standards for home furnaces and boilers, a product covered by an out-of-date federal standard, would yield the biggest savings. The new report provides details on each of the products for which new state standards make sense.

According to Auten, standards are a “proven successful” way to curtail energy waste. New standards can be set at the state or federal level, but states have nearly always acted first. States first set appliance and equipment efficiency standards in the 1970s and 1980s, leading eventually to federal standards for more than two dozen products. Based on U.S. Department of Energy data, these already existing standards will cut U.S. electricity use by nearly 8% by 2020.

H-7610 and S-2844 are part of an energy package being support by the POWER (Protect Our Workers, Economy & Resources) coalition to cut energy costs for all energy consumers in Rhode Island.

The report relied on clear criteria for selecting recommended standards. Each recommended standard would result in significant energy savings and be very cost-effective (i.e. purchasers of the affected products would earn back any incremental cost to improve efficiency within one to three years for most products). In addition, products meeting the recommended standards are readily available today from multiple manufacturers and existing technical standards ease state implementation of such standards.

Leading the Way: Continued Opportunities for New State Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards including an online appendix of state-by-state impact data is available for free download at www.standardsASAP.org. Hard copies are also available at the RIPRIG office.

RIPIRG is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization that represents citizen members throughout the state of Rhode Island.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection. For information about ACEEE and its programs and other publications, visit http://aceee.org.

The Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) is a coalition group dedicated to advancing cost-effective energy efficiency standards for appliances and equipment. ASAP works at both the state and federal levels and is led by a Steering Committee with representatives from consumer groups, utilities, state government, environmental groups, and energy efficiency groups. For information about ASAP, contact ASAP, 20 Belgrade Avenue, Suite 1, Boston, MA 02131 or visit http://standardsASAP.org.