Congressman Charles Bass

Encourages House to consider Smart Energy Act before end of the year

September 24, 2012

WASHINGTON – Congressman Charles F. Bass (NH-02) praised passage of several bipartisan energy efficiency measures in the Senate late last week that were included in the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (S. 1000), introduced by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH), legislation similar to Bass' Smart Energy Act. The provisions passed as part of the Enabling Energy Saving Innovations Act (H.R. 4850).

Bass said:

"I congratulate both Senator Shaheen and Senator Portman for their leadership on this issue. This is a positive step toward improving our nation's energy efficiency and is reflective of efforts that we have championed in the Senate and House, respectively.

"Improving energy efficiency is a clean, cheap, and reliable way to reduce overall energy costs and help create jobs. There is a real consensus among environmental and business organizations and bipartisan advocates on this issue, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in both the House and Senate to advance energy efficiency legislation to the floor for a vote."

Bass' Smart Energy Act will improve the federal government's efforts to better manage energy consumption, encourage innovations in new energy efficiency technologies by leveraging private sector investments, and set a strategic goal to double electricity production through efficient technologies like combined heat and power and waste heat recovery. The bill also examines ways to support innovative manufacturing processes to reduce industrial energy consumption.

Several of the provisions in the Shaheen-Portman bill that were incorporated into H.R. 4850 are also in Bass' Smart Energy Act, including:

• Coordinating research and development of energy efficient technologies for industry;

• Reducing barriers to the deployment of industrial energy efficiency;

• Requiring federal agencies to create an implementation plan for federal metering requirements;

• Establishing and requiring federal facilities to publish energy and water consumption data and track compliance with energy and water audit and savings;

• And requiring the Department of Energy to conduct a study on government-wide data centers (Bass' legislation instead requires DOE to move forward with data center consolidation plans).

The House Subcommittee on Energy and Power heard testimony in July from experts, including the Assistant Vice President of campus energy systems at the University of New Hampshire, about how Bass' Smart Energy Act will get the federal government and many businesses on a path to greater energy efficiency and cost savings.

Bass toured several companies in New Hampshire earlier this year to see firsthand how they are utilizing new energy efficiency technologies to reduce energy costs and power their facilities, including Velcro USA in Manchester, Concord Steam, and the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield.

The House must now consider H.R. 4850 after the Senate amended the legislation last week.

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