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Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) today issued the following statement in support of H.R. 2126, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act, which the House passed yesterday. The bipartisan legislation uses a market-driven and voluntary approach to encourage energy and costs savings.

“The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act is an excellent example of how Congress can come together in a bipartisan fashion to further our shared energy goals,” said Latta. “Policies that promote energy efficiency are an easy way to address both the affordability and accessibility of domestic energy and are essential to pursuing an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy. I am proud to support this important legislation, and I am pleased that it includes a section preserving co-ops’ ability to use water heaters in important demand response programs. I encourage the Senate to similarly come together and pass this bill, so the President may sign it into law.”

The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act aligns the interests of commercial building owners and their tenants to reduce energy consumption. It also establishes a new efficiency standard category for water heaters used in demand response programs, reducing the demand for electricity in these programs during peak hours. Next, it requires federal agencies to coordinate and develop an implementation strategy for the maintenance, purchase, and use of energy-efficient and energy saving information technologies. Finally, the bill requires that federally-leased buildings without Energy Star labels benchmark and disclose their energy usage data, where practical.

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