Shaheen Senate Office
Summary
U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) issued the following statements after key provisions from their bipartisan Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness (ESIC) Act were signed into law as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Shaheen and Portman were lead negotiators of the bipartisan infrastructure package that was signed into law earlier today.
“I’m thrilled that as part of the historic infrastructure deal I helped negotiate, key provisions from my energy efficiency bills with Senator Portman are now law. For years, Senator Portman and I have pushed for Congress to pass this bill and take action on the climate crisis, and I’m so pleased our bipartisan work will make a real difference,” said Shaheen. “Time is of the essence as we face climate change, and our bill takes critical action by reducing emissions and boosting the resilience of buildings. I’m pleased President Biden signed these once-in-a-generation investments into law – ensuring both our infrastructure and our workforce are poised to lead in the 21st century while safeguarding our environment.”
The ESIC Act will improve energy efficiency in three key sectors – buildings, industrial and the federal government. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), residential and commercial buildings accounted for about 40 percent of total U.S. energy consumption in 2018. In addition, reports from the U.S. Department of Energy have found that the federal government is the largest single energy consumer in the country. By improving energy efficiency in these three key sectors, policy experts at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that when fully enacted, the ESIC Act through 2050 would save consumers more than $51 billion on their energy bills and reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 billion tons, which is the equivalent of taking nearly 280 million cars off the road for one year. A previous study from ACEEE also estimated that their legislation would add more than 100,000 jobs to the economy.
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