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Ben Evans is the federal legislative director at the U.S. Green Building Council.
Permission granted by Ben Evans
Here’s an interesting statistic: Energy Star — the federal energy efficiency program that the Trump administration has proposed eliminating — saves almost as much electricity consumption annually (520 billion kWh) as the U.S. coal industry produces (737 billion kWh), and nearly twice as much as the U.S. utility-scale solar industry produces (295 billion kWh).
In other words, if it weren’t for the energy savings quietly embedded into our economy from all those Energy Star-rated appliances, electronics and buildings, we would need a 50% increase in both coal and solar electricity generation to make up for it. And Energy Star is just one of many energy efficiency programs, including building efficiency standards and utility incentives, that deliver significant savings with an impressive return on investment.
