On Tuesday, President Obama signed into law the American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act (H.R. 6582). According to a White House press release, the new legislation modifies the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, with regard to energy efficiency standards for appliances and National Energy Conservation Policy Act provisions on advanced electricity metering.
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), an Arlington, Va.-based group of electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers, says the legislation is evidence that energy efficiency is an issue that can find bipartisan and bicameral agreement.
“This provides a great deal of hope that further efficiency measures can be successful in 2013 and beyond,” says NEMA President and CEO Evan Gaddis.
According to NEMA, the new legislation orders the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to do the following:
- develop and issue an annual best-practices report on advanced metering of energy use in federal facilities;
- establish collaborative research and development partnerships with other programs to support the use of innovative manufacturing processes and to support applied research, development, demonstration, and commercialization of new technologies and processes to improve industrial efficiency; and
- conduct a study, in conjunction with the industrial sector, of the barriers to deployment of industrial efficiency technologies.
The bill also compels certain federal facilities to use a Web-based tracking system to publish energy and water consumption data on an individual facility basis and ensures certain technical corrections to lighting efficiency and electric motor provisions in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, NEMA adds.
