WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Alliance to Save Energy vowed to fight budget cuts for federal energy efficiency programs proposed Thursday by the Trump administration, including the elimination of the successful ENERGY STAR program and sharp reductions at the Department of Energy (DOE).
“This is a destructive proposal that walks away from decades of bipartisan support for energy efficiency going back to the Reagan administration and beyond,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “We oppose these cuts in the strongest possible terms and will do everything we can to fight them in Congress.”
“This budget ignores the fact that energy efficiency creates jobs and economic growth,” Callahan adds. “Every time we successfully encourage an efficiency project or product, we are supporting jobs—whether it’s a factory job manufacturing high-efficiency windows and appliances or a construction worker weatherizing homes.”
According to DOE, energy efficiency supports nearly 2.2 million jobs across the country. It does so while saving consumers money, reducing pollution and strengthening grid stability and energy security.
‘Remarkable Success Story’
“ENERGY STAR is just a remarkable success story—one of the most successful public-private partnerships in history,” Callahan continued. “This is a federal program that costs $50 million to administer and is delivering annual savings of more than $34 billion to consumers in reduced energy costs. It’s significantly cutting pollution and driving innovation and economic activity. With 16,000 partner companies and organizations, and ENERGY STAR-branded products in almost half of American households, it is a model for government programs around the globe.”
“Likewise, DOE’s work on energy efficiency is world-class,” she said. “The research and development is helping American manufacturers become more efficient and profitable. It is driving new technologies that make American companies more competitive. It’s also saving consumers and businesses billions of dollars. The appliance efficiency standards the agency has developed, for example, delivered consumers and businesses $63 billion in utility bill savings in 2015 alone. That is an enormous return on investment to taxpayers. Eliminating the Weatherization Assistance Program will only hurt struggling families who are trying to reduce their energy bills.”
“Cutting this funding is the definition of penny-wise, pound foolish,” Callahan concluded. “We should be increasing funding, not reducing it.”
More information on ENERGY STAR can be found here.
