Alliance Commission’s Energy Productivity Plan would Cut Global Warming Emissions

Environment America

Last week, the Alliance Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy, led by U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and National Grid US President Tom King, released a plan to double our country’s energy productivity in the next twenty years. The Alliance estimates that if the goals of the Energy 2030 plan are achieved, U.S. carbon emissions will decline to 4.65 billion tons by 2020, 22 percent below 2005 levels. Environment America’s Energy Associate Meredith Epstein released the following statement in response:

“Energy efficiency is one of the fastest, cheapest, and cleanest ways to address global warming and reduce our dependence on polluting fossil fuels. We applaud the Commission for presenting a broad plan to ramp up efficiency, and encourage President Obama to build on his leadership on efficiency and work swiftly to make these recommendations a reality.

“In particular, the Obama administration can take action towards fulfilling these recommendations now by directing federal agencies to undergo all cost-effective retrofits and be leaders in energy efficiency, encouraging the Federal Housing Finance Agency to establish guidelines and rules to allow for residential Property Assessed Clean Energy financing, and setting energy-savings standards for appliances.”