President Obama signed into law on Thursday Representative Peter Welch’s (D-Vermont) energy efficiency bill. The bill was sponsored in the House by Welch and Representative David McKinley (R-WV) and in the Senate by Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). Below is a transcript of the President’s remarks from the bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act (H.R.1802/S.535) certifies the energy performance of commercial rental properties, removes a regulatory barrier to the use of large scale water heaters, and encourages energy efficiency improvements in federal buildings.
“I have long believed that energy efficiency is an issue that lends itself to looking past partisan differences to find common ground in Congress,” said Welch. “We may disagree on the causes of climate change and the best fuel mix to meet America’s energy needs, but we can all agree that using less is more. We can all agree that creating demand for American-made energy efficient products will create good jobs. And we can all agree that cutting the energy bills of homeowners, businesses and the federal government is a good thing.”
The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act:
- establishes energy efficiency best practices for tenants renting space in commercial buildings and creates a new TENANT STAR certification program modeled after the successful ENERGY STAR program;
- removes a regulatory barrier to the manufacturing of large scale water heaters which act as residential energy storage devices and allow utilities to curb energy demand during peak hours; and
- establishes a benchmarking and disclosure process for energy consumed in federally leased buildings.
Photo: Getty Images. Peter Welch is second from the left.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 30, 2015
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
BEFORE SIGNING THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2015
Oval Office
3:06 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: It is a great pleasure to welcome some outstanding legislators and advocates on behalf of an issue that should always be bipartisan, and that is making sure that we have the most energy-efficient economy in the world.
We’ve made great strides since the beginning of my administration on everything from doubling fuel-efficiency standards on cars to incentivizing smarter policies when we build buildings so that they’re not wasting as much energy. And thanks to the leadership of folks like Senators Shaheen and Portman and Bennet, and Representative Welch, and other folks who are here, what we’ve seen is a coming together of Republicans and Democrats who are going to facilitate us being much smarter in terms of building buildings, how we use energy and, as a consequence, we’re going to save money for consumers, we’re going to save money for businesses, and we’re going to deal with issues like climate change that have an enormous economic and health impact on Americans as a whole.
So I very much appreciate the efforts of all the organizations involved here. Senator Franken, I should have mentioned him. He stands out. (Laughter.) And I just want to say how much I appreciate the outstanding efforts that have been made in both chambers and by both parties. I hope that we can use this to build even more progress in the future, because we’ve got a lot more work to do. There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit -- this is the area where we can have the greatest environmental impact while making sure that we’re creating good jobs and saving businesses and consumers money. So it’s a win-win, and I very much appreciate the strong efforts that were made by everybody behind me here today.
With that, I’m going to sign this legislation.