Environmentalists laud benefits

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Environmentalists laud benefits
   Sep 10, 2009   Charleston Daily Mail   
   Michelle Saxton Sep. 10, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- CHARLESTON, W.Va.--Environmental groups are urging Congress to strengthen energy efficiency policies in national legislation, saying it could lead to added job creation and household savings. West Virginia was estimated to create 1,900 new jobs, save an average of $237 in yearly household costs and reduce annual carbon emissions by 3.8 million metric tons by 2020 under the proposed American Clean Energy and Security Act, according to Environment America, which cited a report released this month by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The Washington, D.C.-based council estimates that additional energy efficiency improvements could help boost those numbers to 2,900 new jobs in West Virginia over the next 10 years and lower average household costs in the state by $288 a year. "Greater efficiency is the key for greater cost reduction under the bill," Steve Nadel, the nonprofit council's executive director, said Wednesday. New jobs could include weatherizing homes, retrofitting buildings, engineering more energy-efficient appliances and technology and building super-efficient new buildings, according to the citizen-funded advocacy group Environment America. "Energy efficiency is one of the tools you can use to accomplish the global warming pollution reductions required under cap and trade," said the group's preservation associate, Alison Adams, who held a news conference in Charleston on Wednesday. "It is the cleanest, quickest, cheapest way of reducing our energy use and pollution." The proposed cap-and-trade policy in the national energy legislation would limit greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the air and would allow companies to trade or sell allowances for such emissions. The bill, which passed the House in June, was currently delayed in the Senate. Enhancements to energy efficiency provisions in the bill that the council has proposed in its study include: --Requiring that utility companies show a 10 percent reduction in energy use compared with a 5 percent to 8 percent reduction. Utility companies would help residential and business customers reduce energy use by promoting energy-efficient light bulbs, heating and cooling equipment, insulation and other retrofits. The companies would then demonstrate savings from the program equal to 10 percent of their sales. --Requiring electric utilities to use a third of their allowances from the cap-and-trade provision for energy efficiency, just as gas utilities would be required to under the bill. --Keeping the total states' share of the emissions allowances value -- much of which would go toward energy efficiency -- at 9.5 percent, rather than decline starting in 2016. Energy efficiency programs cost utilities a lot less per kilowatt hour than building a new power plant, Nadel said. "We find that the efficiency programs are averaging about 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity they save," Nadel said. "Whereas power from a new power plant costs 8 to 14 cents per kilowatt hour." "So the big advantage to the utility and its rate payers is -- this is less expensive," Nadel said. Utilities would design and operate their programs with some oversight from state utility commissions, Nadel said. "They would have to pay for the program," Nadel said. "But they are less expensive than the alternative, which is building new power plants." Appalachian Power (OTCBB:APPWM) spokeswoman Jeri Matheney was checking with company officials for comment on the proposed enhancements but said Wednesday that both Appalachian Power and its parent company, American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) , support the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Meanwhile, the state also can consider legislation of its own to promote energy efficiency, said West Virginia Environmental Council member Vickie Wolfe, who hopes to revive a bill that failed in the last regular session that would have included a revenue sharing mechanism for utilities so that if the utility could lower a customer's bill it could keep a higher profit rate. "West Virginia needs to be doing its part," Wolfe said. Wolfe attended the news conference, along with Sen. Randy White, D-Webster, who called energy-efficient technology a "win-win." While there is no easy answer to issues of climate change and energy security and affordability, "the closest thing to a silver bullet is energy efficiency," White said. "We're talking about being able to save the consumer and the coal miners and families in general, a cost-effective way of saving money," said White, whose 11th district also includes Clay, Fayette, Nicholas and Upshur counties. "If you're not using as much energy to run your washers, dryers, refrigerators, whatever, that directly goes back into the pocket of the consumer." As far as new energy efficient jobs, West Virginia, for example, manufactures a lot of windows and is working on pilot projects with carbon sequestration, White said. "Being able to safely take carbon out of the production of electricity and through carbon sequestration will create jobs here in West Virginia," White said. "The technology that we learn here is also something that we can export to other countries." "The United States needs to be a leader in new technology," White said. Contact writer Michelle Saxton at michelle.saxton@dailymail.com or 304-348-4843. Newstex ID: KRTB-0477-37861981    
     
     Dennis Spisak
     Mahoning Valley Green Party
      Ohio Green Party
      www.ohiogreens.org
      www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/