Lawmakers, Advocates, and
Architects Call for Concrete Action in Springfield
This Year[full report]
Aggressive
energy saving policies would provide for ongoing
economic stimulus, while cutting dangerous air and global warming pollutants, according
to a new report released today by Environment Illinois.
The report—The
Power of Efficiency: Opportunities to Save Money, Reduce Pollution, and Expand
the Economy in the Midwest –details
how existing energy efficient technologies, practices, and policies would
stimulate our economy through saving Illinois families hundreds of dollars off
rising utility bills, create new jobs, and help save our environment from the
harmful effects of global warming.
In
releasing the report, Environment Illinois and several state legislators called
on the Illinois General Assembly to pass common sense legislation setting
minimum energy efficiency standards for new homes built here.
“As our
power and heating bills rise, global warming pollution builds, and our economy
slows, it is imperative that Illinois becomes as energy efficient as possible,”
said Brian Granahan, an attorney for non-profit environmental advocacy group
Environment Illinois. “Increased energy efficiency puts hundreds of dollars per
year into the pockets of Illinois
families from utility bill savings, stimulating our sagging economy. Decreased demand for energy lowers energy
prices. Reduced power consumption lowers
the mercury, smog, and global warming pollution emitted by our power
plants.”
The
report outlines efficiency opportunities in three Midwestern states—Illinois, Wisconsin, and
Iowa. Detailed in the report are vast opportunities
for increased efficiency in residential, commercial and industrial
construction, retrofits of existing heating, cooling and lighting systems, and
replacing inefficient appliances. For example:
- Simply
requiring all new residential furnaces to be 20% more efficient in Illinois would, by 2020,
save 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity and 14 billion cubic feet of natural
gas annually—enough to supply more than 100,000 homes;
- New
Illinois
homes built under the latest energy efficiency code would save homeowners up
to $466 annually in utility bills over current practice;
- Saving
energy leads to lower energy prices. For
example, if Midwestern states reduced natural gas consumption by 1 percent per
year for five years through energy efficiency, wholesale natural gas prices
would decline by as much as 13%.
Although the
Illinois
state legislature has given increased attention to energy efficiency in recent years,
major opportunities for policy improvement remain. While in 2007 Illinois passed ambitious energy efficiency
targets for electric utilities, similar legislation has not yet passed for
natural gas. Illinois is still one of only a handful of
states nationally without statewide energy efficiency standards for new
residential construction.
“I am
proud of the progress we’ve made in Illinois,”
said State Representative Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), “but many opportunities
still remain. And that begins with finally
passing baseline energy efficiency standards for new homes.”
“I will
fight to ensure that Illinois
stands among the nation’s leaders in energy efficiency and renewable energy
production, but we can’t become a leader without first catching up to the pack.”
Illinois also lags behind in the
construction of new homes built to Energy Star specifications, a standard 15%
beyond the model building code.
While 57%
of new homes built in Iowa in 2006 met Energy
Star standards, that number was only 3% for Illinois. Energy Star homes require
significantly less power and thus help curb global warming pollution, giving Illinois a tremendous
opportunity for improvement in new residential construction.
Improved
energy efficiency would also stimulate Illinois’s
economy. “With our economy stuck in
reverse, it is imperative that we take full advantage of the energy we already
produce,” said State Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago). “Getting more bang for our buck means more
bucks in our pockets—money ready to be spent on goods and services produced
right here in Illinois.”
“Whether you’re an economist or an environmentalist, vastly improved energy efficiency
is a solution we can all agree on,” added Granahan. “We hope that the findings of this report
will compel lawmakers to take advantage of the opportunities to capture these
benefits.”
The
advocates urged adoption of several policy tools to achieve energy savings,
including:
- Passage of H.B. 1842 (or S.B.
0526), the Energy Efficient Buildings Act, which sets minimum efficiency
standards for new home construction.
- Implementation of the
recently passed energy efficiency standards for Illinois electric utilities.
- Expansion of the electric
utility standards to include natural gas utilities.
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