Climate Change and Policy Partnership

New Policy Brief Reviews Options for Improving U.S. Residential Energy Efficiency

Contact: David Hoppock, (919) 681-9711, david.hoppock@duke.edu

July 8, 2009

DURHAM, N.C. – The American Clean Energy and Security Act, recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, contains multiple provisions designed to improve residential energy efficiency.

A new policy brief from Duke University’s nonpartisan Climate Change Policy Partnership (CCPP) describes these provisions, provides an overview of the numerous barriers they will have to overcome, and presents options for implementing them if they are passed into law.

The brief, at www.nicholas.duke.edu/ccpp/publications.html, also presents further policy options federal policymakers could consider to improve residential efficiency.

“There is enormous potential for energy efficiency improvement in the residential sector, but there are significant market, policy and legacy barriers which must be overcome,” says CCPP research analyst David Hoppock. “The Waxman-Markey bill includes multiple programs and allocates emissions allowance resources to address these barriers. If enacted, the bill would improve residential efficiency, but would not overcome all barriers because some barriers, such as transaction costs, are dispersed and difficult to overcome.”

In his brief, Hoppock’s examines four key provisions in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) designed to overcome these barriers. They are:

A national building energy code program that sets a goal of improving new building efficiency by 30 percent after the bill is enacted and by 50 percent after 2013.

A building retrofit program that provides states, local governments and regulated utilities with funds to conduct efficiency retrofits, along with direct incentives to building owners of up to 50 percent of the total retrofit cost.

An energy performance labeling program for new buildings, designed to provide the residential building market with better information about individual building energy efficiency.

Lighting and appliance efficiency standards that establish a reward program for retailers and manufacturers who sell and manufacture best-in-class efficient products.

The 30-page brief presents five additional energy policy options that federal policymakers could consider. These are:

Including existing buildings in the energy labeling program;

providing incentives to states that encourage or require home energy audits at the time of sale;

conducting information campaigns to make consumers aware of the Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) program and other federal energy efficiency programs;

allowing regulated utilities, local governments, and states to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance property tax– and utility bill–financed energy efficiency programs;

incorporating energy efficiency into federal foreclosure avoidance and foreclosed home resale programs;

incorporating efficiency into federal low-income housing programs.

CCPP is an interdisciplinary partnership of Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Nicholas School of the Environment and Center on Global Change. CCPP researches carbon-mitigating technology, infrastructure, institutions and systems to inform lawmakers and business leaders as they lay the foundation of a low-carbon economy.

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