New Federal Legislation Introduced

Yesterday, new bipartisan legistlation was introduced by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). In addition to The Efficient Vehicle Leadership Act of 2009, they have introduced three other bills to expand and improve energy efficiency tax incentives. These tax-related bills have been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. From Senator Bingaman's office:

• The Expanding Building Efficiency Incentives Act of 2009 (S. 1637) encourages energy efficient technology and construction throughout the nation by extending tax incentives for the construction of energy efficient new homes, energy efficient manufactured homes, energy efficient commercial buildings and major incentives for the residential energy efficiency industry. The legislation also adds a higher-tier credit for homes that satisfy the Builders Challenge standard and includes new incentives for homes in high-rise buildings, a 50 percent credit bonus for units in low-income developments and incentives for home energy ratings and auditor training.


• The Expanding Industrial Energy Efficiency Incentives Act of 2009 (S. 1639) would create the first direct tax incentive ever for industrial energy efficiency. As such, the Act would help our industrial sector adopt advanced energy technologies and processes, enabling American industry to reduce fuel dependency, cut costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, add jobs and enhance global competitiveness. The Act creates incentives in the three critical areas: water reuse, advanced motors, and CFC chillers. It also enhances incentives for combined heat and power systems. Energy efficiency organizations estimate that these incentives together will save the equivalent of four months worth of total U.S. energy consumption.


• The Cleaner, Secure, Affordable Thermal Energy Act(S. 1643) would create significant tax incentives for consumers, businesses and tax-exempt entities that now rely on heating oil to convert to more efficient natural gas or biomass (wood pellet stoves) heating systems.

For more details on these bills, see the related press releases from Sens. Bingaman and Snowe.

In addition, last week Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Jeff Merkeley (D-OR) introduced The Thermal Energy Efficiency Act of 2009 (S. 1621). There is a good writeup about the bill in Grist. For details, see the press release from Sen. Sanders's office.