An Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) could save as much energy as improving U.S. vehicles’ fuel economy to 40 mpg, according to a report issued today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
The report, Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: Experience and Recommendations, profiles energy efficiency resource standard policies in ten states and four European countries, and concludes that implementation of similar policies at the federal or state level could reduce nationwide energy use by nearly 5% in 2020 and save consumers and businesses about $170 billion from efficiency measures implemented over the 2007-2020 period.
“An EERS is perhaps the single most effective energy efficiency policy the federal government could adopt today,” said ACEEE Executive Director Steven Nadel, lead author of the report. “To put these energy savings in perspective, they are about triple the energy efficiency savings of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was signed into law last summer.”
An Energy Efficiency Resource Standard, according to the report, consists of electric and/or gas energy savings targets for utilities, with flexibility to achieve the target through a market-based trading system.
EERS targets are achieved through end-user energy-saving improvements, aided and documented by utilities or other program operators. Distribution system efficiency improvements, combined heat and power (CHP) systems, and other high-efficiency distributed generation systems may be included as well. With the trading provision, a utility that saves more than its target could sell savings credits to utilities that fall short of their savings targets, permitting the market to produce the lowest-cost savings.
To date, EERS programs are most commonly implemented at the state level but can also be implemented over smaller or wider areas.
EERS-like programs are now in operation in several states and countries:
Texas’ electricity restructuring law created a requirement for electric utilities to offset 10% of their demand growth through end-use energy efficiency. According to evaluation documents, utilities in Texas have had no difficultly meeting their targets and are currently exceeding them.
Hawaii and Nevada recently expanded their renewable portfolio standards to include energy efficiency.
Connecticut and California have both established energy savings targets for utility energy efficiency programs (Connecticut by law and California by regulation).
Vermont has specific savings goals in the performance contract with the nonprofit organization that runs statewide programs under a contract with the Public Service Board.
Pennsylvania’s new Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard includes end-use efficiency among other clean energy resources.
Colorado’s largest utility has energy savings goals as part of a settlement agreement approved by the Public Service Commission. Illinois and New Jersey are planning to implement EERS programs soon. The report also documents EERS-like programs that work well in the United Kingdom and the Flemish region of Belgium. In addition, Italy has recently started a program, and another is about to start in France. The report profiles each of these efforts and results to date.
ACEEE recommends that both state and the federal government enact EERS policies covering both electric and gas utilities. At the state level, an EERS can generally be established by a state legislature or by its utility commission. At the federal level, an act of Congress will be required.
Loading...