On Monday, April 23, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) held a hearing on S. 1115, the Energy Efficiency Promotion Act. In his opening statement, Bingaman announced his intention to mark-up, on an expedited basis, a series of bi-partisan energy bills, including S. 1115. Other likely items that could be marked-up include legislation to raise the production mandate for biofuels programs (S. 987), a study of carbon storage capacity in the United States (S. 731), authorization for a carbon sequestration research and development program (S.962), and, possibly, a yet-to-be introduced federal renewable portfolio standard. Ranking Member Pete Domenici (R-NM) also expressed his strong support for the bill, and said "while we don't have all the details sewn up yet, we are working on it."
S. 1115 expedites new DOE efficiency standards for appliances, such as dishwashers, refridgerators, clothes washers, among others; encourages federal and state fleet vehicles to reduce their petroleum consumption by 30 percent by 2016; authorizes funding to promote advanced lighting technologies; assists state and local governments to encourage energy efficiency by increasing weatherization funding to $750 million; and promotes the development of advanced vechicle batteries and energy storage. Most, if not all, of these provisions were advanced in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). S. 1115 makes some changes to those EPAct programs, including providing additional authority, and for some, expedited rulemaking authority.