NEMA Supports Obama’s Call for National Efficiency Standards

(Photo: Aleksander Rodic)
(Photo: Aleksander Rodic)

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) is supporting President Obama’s February 5, 2009 announcement on the importance of national energy efficiency standards for consumer and industrial equipment regulated by the Department of Energy (DOE).

NEMA President and CEO Evan R. Gaddis says, “President Obama’s has signed a presidential memorandum requesting that DOE set new efficiency standards for common household appliances that will save consumers money, spur innovation, and conserve energy. We have been a strong advocate for a robust national efficiency standards program that sets federal efficiency standards and avoids a patchwork of unworkable state standards. NEMA looks forward to working with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and his team as they improve the work of the DOE Codes and Standards program.”

NEMA has been at the forefront of federal efficiency standards since 1988 when Congress adopted NEMA’s recommendations for fluorescent lamp ballasts. NEMA developed the first energy efficiency standards for electric motors and distribution transformers, and those NEMA standards serve as the basis for today’s federal standards for those products.

NEMA advocated for significant new standards on general service light bulbs that were adopted in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. Those lighting standards, which go into effect over a two-year period beginning January 1, 2012, represent a 30% increase in efficiency of light bulbs while providing consumers with a variety of technologies to choose from.

Presently, NEMA is engaged with DOE and other stakeholders in finalizing new efficiency standards for general service fluorescent lamps (e.g., four-foot fluorescent lamps) and incandescent reflector lamps (e.g., flood and spot bulbs used in recessed lighting applications). Those new standards are to be issued by June 2009. NEMA also successfully advocated for standards for exit signs, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), and traffic lights in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as well as metal halide luminaires (lighting fixtures) in EISA 2007.