Today the US Department of Energy released a news article that outlines the Obama Administration's efforts for new energy efficiency efforts. This news release identifies a wide range of incentives programs, funding programs, and objectives that directly links smarter buildings to cost savings. LonMark members are extremely well positione to repsond to these initiatives. A link to the full article can be ffound here: http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=194.

The program highlights the following funded areas:

Advanced Building Systems Research

Residential Buildings Development and Deployment

Commercial Buildings Initiative

Buildings and Appliance Market Transformation

Solid State Lighting Research and Development

Of particular interest are some of the proposed objectives:

"Today's announcement includes major changes to energy conservation standards for numerous household and commercial lamps and lighting equipment. Seven percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. is for lighting.

The final rule has numerous benefits, including:

• Avoiding the emission of up to 594 million tons of CO2 from 2012 through 2042—roughly equivalent to removing 166 million cars from the road for a year;
• Saving consumers $1 to $4 billion annually from 2012 through 2042;
• Saving enough electricity from 2012 through 2042 to power every home in the U.S. for up to ten months;
• Eliminating the need for up to 7.3 gigawatts of new generating capacity by 2042—equivalent to as many as 14 500MW coal-fired power plants;
• Decreasing the electricity used in GSFLs by 15%, saving consumers up to $8.66 per lamp over its lifetime; decreasing electricity used by IRLs by 25%, saving consumers $7.95 per lamp over its lifetime.

In February 2009, President Obama tasked the Department of Energy with quickening the pace of energy conservation standards for appliances, while continuing to meet legal and statutory deadlines. Today's announcement, which takes effect in 2012, focuses on General Service Fluorescent Lamps (GSFL), which are commonly found in residential and commercial buildings, and Incandescent Reflector Lamps (IRL), which are commonly used in recessed and track lighting. These fluorescent and incandescent lamps represent approximately 38 and 7 percent of total lighting energy use respectively.

The final rule, as issued by the Secretary of Energy on June 26, 2009, can be viewed and downloaded from the Office Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Web site."

I encourage you to take a look at the news release and related web sites, and stay current on this program especially if you do business in the US.

Respectfully,

Ron Bernstein