Guest post by Jim Brodrick, reprinted with permission from Postings: from the desk of Jim Brodrick
As many of you already know, DOE is in the process of transferring its ENERGY STAR® responsibilities, for all product areas including solid-state lighting, to the Environmental Protection Agency. In an agreement signed by both agencies on September 30, 2009, DOE will no longer have an active operational role in ENERGY STAR but will retain some of the technical responsibilities for the Program, primarily associated with the DOE Appliance Standards Program. A transition plan is being developed, but I’m not aware that a time-frame for the transfer has been decided upon. From the information I have, the transition plan will be formalized before the end of the year.
Regarding solid-state lighting, at the behest of Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance (NGLIA) and other industry stakeholders, an agreement has been reached with EPA to continue the criteria adoption process for outdoor lighting and replacement lamps. The final timetable for adoption will probably hinge on the transition plan and whether EPA will agree to employ the criteria that DOE approves following the current vetting process. It is still unclear whether the ENERGY STAR SSL Program will continue as introduced by DOE, or if significant changes will be made by EPA. I’m sure that information will be transmitted directly to ENERGY STAR Partners by EPA once additional decisions are made.
While ENERGY STAR was a component of, and a welcome addition to, the DOE SSL Program, it played only a minor role in our overall commercialization support efforts. These efforts will continue in full-force and I don’t see our relationship with the industry and its stakeholders substantially changing. We are in the process of expanding our CALiPER, GATEWAY Demonstration, and Lighting Facts efforts as a way of broadening our commercialization support in an expanding industry. We will also be increasing stakeholder educational efforts, especially for those potential buyers not totally familiar with solid-state lighting. This expansion has been in process for some time and it will continue to be supportive of ENERGY STAR if EPA chooses to remain on the same path created by DOE. We believe it is critical that the fundamentals of the technical work that DOE has helped
I would like to thank all of you that have provided support to the Department in its quest to establish and operate an ENERGY STAR SSL Program that is conducive to the direction that most in the industry are taking. While DOE will no longer be directly involved in ENERGY STAR operational activities, we will not cede our role in working with the industry and stakeholders in pursuing the most reasonable and productive approach to assuring the SSL market efforts are successful.
Now on to other things. Many of you may have read that the U.S. Senate has introduced yet another “climate action” bill. This new legislation, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009, was proposed by Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA) and Sen. John Kerry (MA) of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, which has main oversight over the Environmental Protection Agency. The previous Senate bills were introduced through the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over DOE.
The bill does have some provisions that might be of interest to the lighting industry. The first is a Clean Technology Business Competition Grant Program. Under this provision, the EPA Administrator “may provide grants to organizations to conduct business competitions that provide incentives, training, and mentorship to entrepreneurs and early stage start-up companies throughout the United States to meet high-priority economic, environmental, and energy goals in areas including air quality, energy efficiency and renewable energy, transportation, water quality and conservation, green buildings, and waste management.”
The grants would be in the form of competitions that would create green jobs in the private sector with the stated goal of strengthening the U.S. clean technology industry. Companies would be encouraged to have public sector partners. The competitions would be authorized at $20 million per year.
This bill also has its version of national energy efficiency building codes. If enacted, the EPA would work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish energy efficiency targets for residential and commercial buildings. The building codes would be based on progressively more stringent standards beginning in 2014 and running through 2030.
As with all current climate change and energy efficiency legislation, this bill will not be voted on until later this year, or until the Congressional focus on health care legislation ends.
