A legislative conference committee is currently reviewing amendments to SB 12 – the state air quality enhancement bill.
One important amendment on the bill requires efficiency standards for nine residential and commercial appliances: bottle-type water dispensers, hot-food holding cabinets, compact audio equipment (boom-boxes), DVD players, pool pumps, etc.
According to the State Energy Office, higher efficiency standards for these products would save Texas 514 megawatts of peak demand by 2020 – that’s one good-sized coal plant, or twenty percent of the state’s projected growth in energy demand. Small businesses and consumers, whose electricity prices have jumped drastically post-regulation, would save $200 million per year. The efficiency standards would reduce smog pollution by 858 tons per year and reduce global warming pollution by 1.4 million metric tons – that’s equivalent to taking 259,961 cars off of Texas’ roads. The decreased load on power generating stations would also save the state one billion gallons of water per year.
This energy efficiency measure “would be feasible and have benefits far exceeding costs for Texas consumers”, according to the State Energy Conservation Office. It would alleviate the pressure on the increasing energy demands of our growing state. It would reduce the need to build new power generating facilities – whether they are wind turbines or coal burning boilers. It would save money, it would save water, and it would help to save the environment.
Energy efficiency is the cleanest, cheapest and easiest piece in solving our current and future energy puzzle. Texas Public Interest Research Group urges Senator Kip Averitt to keep the Appliance Efficiency Standards amendment in SB12.
