The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rossyln, Va., is backing President Obama's recent request for national energy-efficiency standards for consumer and industrial equipment regulated by the Department of Energy (DOE).
“President Obama has signed a presidential memorandum requesting that the DOE set new efficiency standards for common household appliances that will save consumers money, spur innovation and conserve energy,” said Evan Gaddis, NEMA's CEO. “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 the association'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 also advocated 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 Jan. 1, 2012, represent a 30 percent increase in efficiency of light bulbs while providing consumers a variety of technologies to choose from.
The association is also engaged with DOE and other stakeholders in finalizing new efficiency standards for general-service fluorescent lamps such as common 4-foot fluorescent lamps and incandescent reflector lamps (including flood and spot bulbs) used in recessed lighting applications. Those new standards are expected to be issued by June 2009. In addition to helping shape other lighting legislation, NEMA also successfully advocated standards for exit signs, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and traffic lights in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and metal-halide lighting fixtures in EISA 2007.