August 3, 2016 – Andrea Sears, Public News Service (PA)
About 40 Philadelphia buildings competed in a race to reduce energy use by 5 percent. (brigitsnow/Pixabay)
PHILADELPHIA — The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan was finalized one year ago today, and a new report says that the plan could provide big benefits for businesses.
Business customers are responsible for nearly one-third of all electricity-related carbon pollution nationwide. But, according to Dr. Marilyn Brown, professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, implementing the Clean Power Plan could result in significant savings for those customers in addition to cutting polution overall.
“Bills for electricity could be reduced by 6.7 percent if states were to include energy efficiency as a strong component of their compliance approach,” Brown said.
That could mean an estimated savings of $11.3 billion a year nationally, and more than $1 billion a year in Pennsylvania alone.
Christine Knapp, director of the Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability, said that the city’s benchmarking program, which requires that buildings over 50,000 square feet report their energy use, is already encouraging businesses to find ways to cut energy costs.
“They look at how they stack up against buildings of similar size and understand, ‘Oh, well, this building is using 25 percent less energy than I am; maybe there’s an opportunity for me to save some money,’” Knapp said.
Almost 40 of Philadelphia’s largest buildings participated in the city’s yearlong Energy Reduction Race – 12 of which succeeded in cutting energy use by at least five percent.
Some states plan to build new power plants to meet growing needs. But by switching buildings to new heating and cooling systems and LED lighting, Brown said, energy efficiency can reduce or eliminate the need to generate more power.
“It can meet energy service requirements with these more efficient products,” she said, “and not lock in a next generation of high-priced power plants.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has placed enforcement on hold while the Clean Power Plan faces legal challenges, but Gov. Tom Wolf has committed to implementing it in Pennsylvania.
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