Financing, Incentives Key to Driving Greater Energy Efficiency in Buildings

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Availability of financing and incentives are among the key elements to driving increased energy efficiency in buildings, according to leaders who attended the North America Energy Efficiency Forum. The forum, co-sponsored by Johnson Controls and the U.S. Energy Association, examined how advanced efficiency technologies, energy policies and consumer education can improve energy security, global competitiveness and accelerate economic growth.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., told leading policymakers and energy experts that: "The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is very interested in advancing opportunities for the federal government to serve as a model for the increased utilization of energy efficiency and clean energy technologies. Such policies and measures can save significant taxpayer dollars, create private sector jobs, and greatly enhance energy markets. Two specific and highly effective ways for the federal government to achieve this goal have been through energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) and federal power purchase agreements (PPAs)."

House Panel: Oil Sands Project Critical to U.S. Energy Security

Obama administration is the 'one thing standing in the way,' says energy committee chairman.

The United States should look to its neighbors up north for additional oil supplies that could have a major impact on the nation's energy security, say oil industry analysts and Republican lawmakers.

A proposed oil pipeline called Keystone XL could pump 700,000 barrels per day from Canada's oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

New direction for U.S. energy security

Right now, we are facing an energy crisis in this country. American taxpayers, being held hostage by foreign dictators, are paying $4 for a gallon of gasoline and sending $2 billion overseas for foreign oil every day. America needs a new direction for energy security, and it's time for natural gas to lead the way.

Our reliance on foreign oil is not just an economic problem, it is a major national security issue. The good news is the answer to both problems is literally right under our feet: American-made natural gas is the bridge fuel to energy security we have been looking for all along.

Obama promotes energy policy at wind-turbine plant

Washington – U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday visited a wind-turbine plant near Philadelphia to push his proposals for energy security and he warned that "it won't be easy" to achieve independence from foreign oil imports.

"I think that what you do here is a glimpse of the future, and it's a future where America is less dependent on foreign oil, more reliant on clean energy produced by workers like you," Obama told employees of the Spanish firm Gamesa.

Energy independence requires bold goals, bold leadership

The president believes in energy security. I believe in energy independence. In case you missed the president’s weekly radio address, here is what the White House released on energy security, so I will not be accused of not understanding what they meant. The title of the address was “Energy Security Can Only Come If We Invest in Cleaner Fuels and Greater Efficiency.”

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama discussed his strategy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and secure our nation’s energy future. When the President was elected, America imported eleven million barrels of oil a day. This week he announced a bold, but achievable goal of cutting this number by one-third by 2025.

Obama's latest vision on energy security

Obama's grab-bag approach, forced by political reality, contains a bit of everything – oil drilling, nuclear, renewables, even coal. But the unifying goal is still less US dependence on foreign oil.

Talk in Washington about “cap and trade” as a way to curb carbon emissions has evaporated like a greenhouse gas. Now, with gasoline prices nearing $4 a gallon and job creation a top priority, there’s talk only of offshore drilling, nuclear power, and domestic shale gas.

Report gives Keystone pipe a lift

Allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed would go a long way toward reducing U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil, says a report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy.

And that report was read with great interest in downtown Calgary, seat of TransCanada, the company behind the project that would connect the oilsands with the refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“This study supports what we have been saying for some time — that Keystone XL will improve U.S. energy security and reduce dependence on foreign oil from the Middle East and Venezuela,” said TransCanada CEO Russ Girling, reiterating that construction of the pipe would create 20,000 well paying jobs south of the border.

But the report didn’t just refer to Keystone. It also singled out the oilsands as a source of energy that’s increasingly important to the U.S.

“Together, growing Canadian oilsands imports and U.S. demand reduction have the potential to very substantially reduce U.S. dependency on non-Canadian foreign oil, including from the Middle East,” the study says.

It’s an argument that’s largely congruent with what Canadian oil executives and industry lobbyists have been saying for some time.

Keystone, however, is still facing stiff resistance among landowners in states along the proposed path of the pipe.

Concerns vary from potential environmental impacts, especially on groundwater in the event of a leak, to property-rights issues dealing with rights-of-way.

Source: http://www.calgarysun.com