Broad energy bill passes
WASHINGTON – Soon, Americans won’t find those old-fashioned 100-watt incandescent light bulbs in stores. They’ll be able to buy more energy-efficient appliances. And they’ll see labels on TVs and computers that say how much energy the devices consume.
They’ll see stickers on new cars that specify not only how many miles they get per gallon but how many greenhouse gases they emit. And when consumers pull up to the pump, they’ll fill their cars with a mixture of gasoline and made-in-the-USA biofuel.
Those are some of the ways that the new energy bill will affect everyday life.
Congress on Tuesday gave final approval to the 822-page measure, sending it up Pennsylvania Avenue to President Bush in a hybrid Prius. Bush is scheduled to sign the bill, which includes the first congressional increase in vehicle fuel-economy standards in 32 years, at a ceremony today at the Energy Department.
Although the miles-per-gallon rules have grabbed the headlines, the bill includes a number of lower-profile measures aimed at reducing dependence on oil and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“In this bill, we ban by 2012 the famously inefficient 100-watt incandescent bulb,” said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who co-sponsored that provision.
The House gave final approval to the measure, 314-100. The Senate approved it last week, 86-8. In addition to the 40 percent increase in fuel efficiency for new cars and light trucks by 2020, for a fleet-wide average of 35 mpg, the bill requires a fivefold increase in the amount of alternative home-grown fuels, such as ethanol, that must be added to the nation’s gasoline supply by 2022.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has projected that the bill will reduce energy use by 7 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 9 percent in 2030.
The Washington think tank has estimated it will save consumers and businesses more than $400 billion between now and 2030, “accounting for both energy cost savings and the moderately higher price of energy-efficient products.”
Energy analysts project that, although the tougher miles-per-gallon rules will increase the price of a vehicle an estimated $1,500, consumers will save $5,000 in fuel costs over the life of the vehicle.
Not everyone agrees about the benefits to consumers.
“The vehicles that are going to meet this 35-mile-per-gallon standard in the year 2020 are probably going to cost $10,000 to $15,000 more than they do today,” Rep. Joe L. Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said during the House debate.