[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 166 (Friday, October 5, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CELEBRATING ENERGY EFFICIENCY DAY

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                            HON. PETER WELCH

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 5, 2018

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Energy Efficiency 
Day and recognize the great economic and environmental benefits the 
United States has realized since the first energy efficiency policies 
were enacted more than 40 years ago. On Friday, October 5, Americans 
from every corner of our country will join together to raise awareness 
of energy efficiency, celebrate the prosperity and innovation these 
policies have helped foster, and appreciate the work--past and 
present--of leaders in business, the non-profit sector, and government 
that has doubled the energy productivity of our economy since 1980. I 
am proud to count myself among them as a committed advocate for 
national energy efficiency policy.
  Since the first energy efficiency policies were enacted in the 1970s, 
improvements in technologies and practices have resulted in energy 
savings worth more than 60 quadrillion British Thermal Units (BTUs) 
(quads) and avoided costs worth more than $800 million annually. Today, 
the energy efficiency sector boasts a workforce of about 2.25 million 
Americans (including about 11,000 Vermonters). And the federal 
government--the largest energy user on the planet--has worked with 
private-sector partners on investments that have lowered the energy 
intensity of government facilities by over 47 percent. These savings 
are real, and without the gains in energy efficiency we would waste 
more energy, generate more harmful emissions, release more pollutants 
into the environment, rely more on foreign oil, and spend more on 
costly power plants and transmission lines. Any way you look at it, 
energy efficiency is a wise investment and a worthwhile policy goal of 
the United States.
  As many of my colleagues know, energy efficiency has a storied 
history of bipartisan support in Congress. Since the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act was passed in 1975, Congress has provided sweeping 
updates to federal energy efficiency policy six times and approved 
smaller measures many times. The last stand-alone energy efficiency 
legislation enacted, I am proud to say, was one I worked on with my 
colleague and good friend David McKinley of West Virginia, who 
sponsored the bill.
  We have made great progress over these four decades, but Energy 
Efficiency Day should be a reminder of our commitment to continue 
pressing on for our collective benefit. We must do more, achieve more, 
and save more--all while using less. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my 
colleagues to join me in celebrating Energy Efficiency Day and working 
across the aisle and across the Capitol to craft the next set of 
policies we need to remain energy-efficient and productive in the 21st 
Century.

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