Climate Change, Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency

Friday night the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act 219 to 212. Only eight Republicans voted in favor of the bill.

Here’s an excerpt from the grist.org article about the vote:

"'Today the House has passed the most important energy and environment bill in our nation’s history,' said Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who co-authored the bill with Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

“…President Obama immediately praised the passage of the bill on Friday night, and called on the Senate to follow suit. ‘Today the House of Representatives took historic action with the passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act,” said Obama. 'It’s a bold and necessary step that holds the promise of creating new industries and millions of new jobs, decreasing our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Now it’s up to the Senate to take the next step.'”

You can read the President’s full remarks and watch his weekly address “Opening the Door to a Clean Energy Economy” below.

The fight to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation looks like it’s gearing up to be a fight about embracing a clean energy future, or getting stuck in the past; about denying the false argument the GOP has been pushing that we have to choose between doing something good for our environment or good for our economy.

Today, President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu announced aggressive actions to promote energy efficiency that will save American consumers up to $4 billion dollars annually by 2012. Secretary Chu said:

“When it comes to saving money and growing our economy, energy efficiency isn’t just low hanging fruit; it’s fruit laying on the ground. The most prosperous, competitive economies of the 21st century will be those that use energy efficiently. It’s time for America to lead the way.”

The actions announced today include:

-- Major changes to energy conservation standards for numerous household and commercial lamps and lighting equipment. (Seven percent of all energy consumed in the United States is for lighting.)

-- The announcement of a $346 million investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand and accelerate the development, deployment, and use of energy efficient technologies in all major types of commercial buildings as well as new and existing homes. (Residential and commercial buildings consume 40 percent of the energy and represent 40 percent of the carbon emissions in the United States.) Funded projects include: advanced building research, solid state lighting research & development, and expanding ENERGY STAR to accelerate development of energy efficient products and expand the ENERGY STAR brand into new areas.

You can more about the new standards in the Washington Post article on the announcement.

Comments (2) «

While surfing net to get some data related to me project no 000-331 i came here and find this web an interesting one...Well i would like to say that there is a mix reaction going on among people about that bill...Like some people think that this legislation has so many caveats and loopholes that it will be business as usual. Taxes will go up, CO2 will continue to rise, temperature over the next ten years anyone's guess, and the poor take it in the shorts...There's a big difference between a weak bill and one that will do more harm than good. They are not supporting a bill that subsidizes coal plants or weakens the Clean Air Act...Now clean air contract seems to be hot issue linking with this bill because people think that this bill will cause more harm than good. For example, one of its evil provisions is that the Clean Air Act will no longer apply to CO2 except for mobile sources. So, the EPA will lose its ability to regulate CO2 emissions from coal plants...But ya some there are also some people who are acknowledging it...They are thinking that senate session will be a big challenge for this bill...

1

nomzz on June 30, 2009 at 01:28 AM

While surfing net to get some data related to me project no 000-331 i came here and find this web an interesting one...Well i would like to say that there is a mix reaction going on among people about that bill...Like some people think that this legislation has so many caveats and loopholes that it will be business as usual. Taxes will go up, CO2 will continue to rise, temperature over the next ten years anyone's guess, and the poor take it in the shorts...There's a big difference between a weak bill and one that will do more harm than good. They are not supporting a bill that subsidizes coal plants or weakens the Clean Air Act...Now clean air contract seems to be hot issue linking with this bill because people think that this bill will cause more harm than good. For example, one of its evil provisions is that the Clean Air Act will no longer apply to CO2 except for mobile sources. So, the EPA will lose its ability to regulate CO2 emissions from coal plants...But ya some there are also some people who are acknowledging it...They are thinking that senate session will be a big challenge for this bill...

2

nomzz on June 30, 2009 at 01:28 AM

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