HB 2200 Sets Energy Savings
Targets for Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, PA—Today, Pennsylvania took an important step
towards protecting the state’s environment, securing its energy system and
saving businesses and consumers money when the state House passed House Bill
2200 (HB 2200) by a vote of 152-45.
“Energy efficiency is the quickest and cheapest way to
protect Pennsylvania’s
environment while saving citizens and businesses money on electricity bills,”
said Nathan Willcox, Energy & Clean Air Advocate for PennEnvironment. “In passing House Bill 2200, the state House
has recognized the need for Pennsylvania
to act aggressively to cut its energy use, and we urge the Senate to swiftly
pass this critical legislation.”
It is often said that the cleanest type of energy is the
energy that is never produced in the first place. This is especially true in Pennsylvania,
where polluting coal-fired power plants provide over half of the Commonwealth’s
electricity. These power plants create
huge amounts of mercury, soot and smog pollution, and are the main reason why Pennsylvania
creates more global warming pollution than every state besides Texas
and California. But by cutting electricity demand through
energy efficiency, Pennsylvania
can decrease the amount of energy that these coal-fired power plants have to
produce, and in turn cut the levels of pollution they are creating. In addition to their environmental benefits,
energy efficiency efforts also bring enormous economic benefits, through
lowered electricity bills for homeowners and businesses.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania
has historically lagged behind other states in promoting energy efficiency and
conservation. Most recently, the
American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy gave Pennsylvania
a score of only 16 out of a possible 44 last year for the Commonwealth’s energy
efficiency efforts.
For these reasons, PennEnvironment has called on Harrisburg
to embrace an aggressive agenda to promote energy efficiency policies, as part
of our New Energy Future project. In
addition to decreasing Pennsylvania’s
dependence on oil and producing more energy from clean, renewable sources, one
key goal of the project is to cut energy use in the Commonwealth by 10 percent
by 2025.
HB 2200 provides a critical first step towards making this
goal a reality. Specifically, the bill contains
several mechanisms that will help Pennsylvania
make significant cuts in energy use in the coming years. Most importantly, the bill:
- Establishes
energy efficiency programs statewide to cut overall energy use 1 percent
by 2011 and 2.5 percent by 2013, compared to projected electricity usage.
- Uses
energy efficiency programs to cut demand during the 100 hours when demand
for electricity is the highest annually (also referred to as “peak
demand”) by 4 percent by 2012, compared to peak demand in 2007.
- Requires utilities to distribute “smart
meters” to all homeowners and businesses over the next 10 years. Such smart meters will help
Pennsylvanians use electricity more efficiently by identifying when
electricity is the cheapest and the most expensive.
The bill now moves to the state Senate, where
PennEnvironment is calling for the bill’s swift passage.
