Congress Passes Bipartisan Bill to Improve Energy Efficiency – NYTimes.com.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill focused on improving energy efficiency in buildings and water heaters. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill, cosponsored by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), into law this week. The two senators have been working together since 2011 on a broader energy-efficiency measure. The bill that passed this week is a stripped-down version of their efforts. It would create a voluntary program for landlords and tenants to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings, mandate that large electric water heaters be run in an energy-efficient manner and require federal agencies to perform energy-use assessments on commercial buildings that they lease. The larger measure that the senators continue to push would create incentives for federal mortgage writers to incorporate energy-efficient heating and cooling systems into the value of a home, establish training programs in energy-efficiency construction, create programs to increase the energy efficiency of manufacturing supply chains, and direct the U.S. Department of Energy to work with manufacturers on energy-efficient technologies.
