Vermont Public Service Department Commissioner Christopher Recchia announced the release of the Thermal Efficiency Task Force (TETF) report to the Legislature today. This report was created by the members of the TETF to recommend specific actions and initiatives that will guide the State in meeting the state building efficiency goals, improve its energy and economic security, create local jobs, and reduce environmental impacts. The recommendations were developed through input from the TETF members and informed by analysis and considerations throughout 2012.
Vermont is currently falling short of the building efficiency goals (defined in 10 VSA § 581), particularly the goal to improve the energy efficiency of 80,000 homes by 2020. At the current pace, we are going to miss that goal by about half. In light of this situation, Vermonts 2011 Comprehensive Energy Plan called for the creation of a Thermal Efficiency Task Force.
This Task Force, comprised of 65 members, representing 45 organizations, was convened by the PSD over the course of 2012 to chart a course for how Vermont could get back on the path towards meeting the goals.
The Task Force has completed its work and released a comprehensive report with a series of programmatic, policy, and legislative recommendations. The report includes a detailed analysis of the benefits that would come to Vermont businesses and families, and the state as a whole, if the investment to reach the building efficiency goals was achieved. The benefits include:
An increase in Gross State Product of $1.47 for every $1 invested. Incremental Energy Efficiency programs alone result in an increase in Gross State Product of $1.80 for every $1 invested.
A net increase of nearly 800 job-years within Vermonts economy.
Prevention of 6.8 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from entering the atmosphere, over the investment lifetime. This equates to taking 1.26 million passenger vehicles off the road for one year.
To achieve these benefits, key recommendations include:
Implementing a statewide clearinghouse to facilitate easy access to information for consumers interested in making energy improvements.
Increasing confidence that promised energy savings will be realized.
Increasing the use of financing to offset upfront costs.
Developing industry partnerships to build the trained workforce needed to scale up efficiency work.
Increasing consistency of approach and standards across programs.
The report also includes recommendations for the public funding necessary to scale up this effort. The Task Force estimates that new annual public program funding needed to meet the state building efficiency goals would range from $27 million in 2014 to $39.6 million in 2020. The Task Force developed these recommendations based on an assumption that most of the resources will need to come from private, not public, funds. Thus, the report calls for every dollar in public funding to leverage nearly two dollars of investment from the private sector.
Im very impressed with the time and effort that went into completing this comprehensive report, particularly by a volunteer group of stakeholders, and I thank them for their efforts said Recchia. The Task Force was charged with coming up with a plan for how we could meet our state building efficiency goals and they have done just that. He added that although Vermont is a proven leader in electric efficiency, we have much more work to do to change how we heat our homes and businesses to put us on a path towards a more sustainable future.
A copy of the full Thermal Efficiency Task Force report is available at: http://publicservice.vermont.gov
PSD 1.16.2013
Thermal Efficiency Task Force report on efficiency goals
Submitted by tim
on