NEMA’s government relations activity centers on developing, analyzing, advocating, and supporting the implementation of government policies and legislation for increasing energy efficiency and electric supply in the United States.
NEMA has been directly involved in national and state energy legislation. NEMA contributed to President Clinton’s U.S. Climate Change Action Plan and President Bush's National Energy Policy. We work to help develop and support energy-efficiency programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
S. 1000, Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2011
Creates federal-state loan program for commercial building and industrial facility energy efficiency upgrades that the market is not currently encouraging. Incents states to adopt national building energy codes developed by ASHRAE or ICC.
H.R. 4017, Smart Energy Act
Establishes a federal loan program for energy-efficiency upgrades in commercial, multifamily residential, industrial, municipal, government school, and hospital buildings. Enables federal government to use energy-savings performance contracts in support of deployment of electric vehicles or electric vehicle supply equipment. Requires federal agencies to participate in demand response programs. Requires analysis of best practices in federal buildings for advanced metering.
H.R. 4096, Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy (STORAGE) 2012 Act
Establishes investment tax credits for a broad array of energy storage technologies that are connected to the grid (20% credit) or used on-site at industrial, commercial, or residential locations (30% credit).
H.R. 3371, High Performance Federal Buildings Act
Promotes energy efficiency and high performance in federal buildings through integrated and holistic approach to building design, construction, operations, and maintenance including use of building information modeling, lifecycle costing, commissioning, and compliance verification.
Historical
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on February 17, 2009. ARRA contains significant tax, investment, and spending provisions impacting energy efficiency, Smart Grid, health information technology, and infrastructure projects, all of which were endorsed by NEMA.
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
On December 19, 2007, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 6, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, into law (Public Law 110-140). NEMA was actively engaged and has spearheaded negotiations of several provisions important to NEMA member companies.
This legislation improved our nation’s energy policies by creating new energy efficiency standards, increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, increasing the mandated use of ethanol and biofuels, encouraging “Smart Grid” technology, encouraging carbon sequestration research, and expanding high-performance commercial and federal buildings.
Energy Policy Act of 2005
After four years of effort, EPAct 2005 became law and included key NEMA provisions.