U.S. Capitol (Photo: Flickr)

With a 314 to 100 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a paired-down energy bill this afternoon. The bill now goes to President Bush, who has indicated he’ll sign it.

While the energy efficiency portions of the bill should yield more than triple the savings from legislation passed by Congress in 2005, two key provisions were cut from the bill — an energy efficiency and renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS), and extensions of energy efficiency and renewable energy tax incentives. If these provisions had not been dropped, energy savings in 2030 would be 11% greater, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found in an analysis of the bill.

The provisions that were included will save U.S. consumers and businesses more than $400 billion between now and 2030, estimates ACEEE. These provisions will reduce U.S. energy use in 2030 by 7% and U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 by 9%, relative to the 2007 Department of Energy forecast. This represents about 20% of the reductions needed by 2030 if the U.S. is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) 80% by 2050 (2% per year), the amount that the Union of Concerned Scientists says is the minimum needed to prevent dangerous interference with the climate system.

Here are key provisions in the bill, courtesy of the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE):

• New efficiency standards for appliances, including dishwashers, clothes washers, refrigerators and freezers.
• A Commercial Building Initiative (CBI) to develop new commercial buildings that would use energy efficiency and clean energy sources to produce zero GHG emissions. If fully funded, this could result in savings of about 5% of all energy use and 25% of commercial building energy use by 2020.
• Lighting standards that would result in the phase-out of today’s 40-, 60-, 75- and 100-watt incandescent bulbs from January 2012 to January 2014 and their replacement by more efficient standard and halogen incandescents, CFLs and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that produce the equivalent amount of light.
• Increased energy efficiency in federal buildings, including permanent authorization of Energy Savings Performance Contracts, an innovative financing tool for upgrading the energy efficiency of federal buildings.
• An increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards from the current average of about 25 miles per gallon for passenger cars, light trucks and SUVs to 35 mpg by 2020. This would save American families up to $1,000 per year in gasoline costs and would reduce U.S. oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels per day in 2020 — half of what we currently import from the Persian Gulf.
• A strengthened program to address energy-intensive industries.

While the U.S. has a long way to go from this bill to achieve the necessary GHG emissions cuts, ASE President, Kateri Callahan described the bill as a, “necessary down payment on actions needed to address global warming.”