How did clean energy fare during the 2012 Legislative Session?

Utah lawmakers recently closed the 2012 Legislative Session and clean energy policies saw both ups and downs. Amidst balancing Utah’s budget and debating the merits of several proposed legislative task forces, lawmakers considered several energy-related bills that would cut energy waste and make renewable energy more accessible to more Utah citizens and businesses.

Utah advances unique renewable energy bill
Utah lawmakers opened the doors to more renewable energy development with Senate Bill 12, 1st Substitute – Energy Amendments (sponsored by Senator Mark Madsen, R – Tooele and Utah Counties), which received strong support from a diverse group of stakeholders. SB 12 creates a new market for medium- to large-scale renewable energy projects, enabling Utah’s larger energy users to directly own or purchase from offsite renewable energy facilities.

SB 12 targets renewable energy projects that are at least 2 Megawatts (MW) in capacity, allowing larger customers to collaborate with renewable energy developers and Rocky Mountain Power to build or purchase renewable energy from remote areas and transmit the electricity on transmission and distribution lines to their facility. The bill gives the Utah Public Service Commission the authority to approve any contracts executed under this arrangement, which provides reasonable oversight and protections for involved parties.

Among the bill’s most fervent supporters, eBay considered SB 12 to be a critical policy to achieve their clean energy goals for their South Jordan Data Center and other Utah facilities. As stated in a recent Forbes Article, “This wasn’t simply part of eBay’s company-wide commitment to sustainable operations, it was a bottom-line business decision: sourcing renewable energy would stabilize and reduce long-term energy costs and minimize environmental impacts in a state that gets 94 percent of its electricity from coal.” The bill passed unanimously.

Lawmakers bend to special interests, leaving new homeowners in the cold
Unfortunately for Utah homeowners, lawmakers caved-in to special interests and denied Utahns more affordable energy-efficient new homes by killing House Bill 262-Building Code Amendments without giving it a public hearing. This bill, sponsored by Representative Fred Cox (R – West Valley City) would have cut energy waste in new homes by updating Utah’s 6-year old home energy construction standards. Had this bill passed, the updated standards would have started saving Utah’s new homebuyers nearly $200 per year – beginning in 2013 – through reduced energy bills. The new construction standards would have included important home energy efficiency tests that protect Utah consumers from sub-par construction practices.

Utahns have spoken on this issue and want greater energy efficiency built into new homes. According to a recent poll, 76% of Utah voters from all political stripes support adopting the latest energy conservation construction standards . Yet, due to pressure from the Utah Home Builders Association and the Utah Association of Realtors, who actively opposed the bill at the Capitol, Utah is now falling behind nearly 30 other states including Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Nevada, who are currently using the latest home efficiency construction standards.

At a time when Rocky Mountain Power is requesting a 10% increase in electricity rates, Utah should be doing everything it can to reduce energy waste to help save needed money on our utility bills. Energy efficiency is Utah’s cleanest and cheapest energy resource. All homeowners and Utah businesses would have felt the financial benefit of this bill since reducing energy demands in each new home would put a downward pressure on utility rates that we all pay.

The silver lining is that there has never been more support for updating home efficiency standards among builders, developers, local builder associations, consumer groups, and increasingly energy-savvy consumers. We’re very optimistic that given the widespread support for energy efficient homes, our lawmakers will at last listen to their constituents and update the building code during the 2013 Legislative Session.

Last minute creation of air quality and economic development task force
In a positive step forward to address Utah’s ongoing air quality issues, the Legislature passed House Bill 28. This bill combined two proposed task forces, an Air Quality Task Force and the Economic Development Task Force, to review public and private sector efforts to improve air quality in Utah, and to review and suggest changes to state laws and regulations that could improve air quality in Utah. The Air Quality Task Force was originally proposed as an independent task force exclusively devoted to air quality issues, however given that poor air quality directly effects Utah’s economic development, it makes sense to have the two groups working together to finally develop a state approach to improve our air quality. We’re pleased that legislators found a compromise on this issue and hope to see Utah’s air quality problems receive the focused attention it deserves. Utah Clean Energy will be tracking this task force closely, so look for more information once this gets underway during the 2012 Interim Session, which runs from May through November 2012.

Environmental quality boards gutted
In a disappointing step backward, Senate Bill 21, passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor, will directly affect the following divisions within the Department of Environmental Quality: (1) the Division of Air Quality, (2) the Division of Radiation Control, (3) the Division of Drinking Water, (4) the Division of Water Quality, and (5) the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste. This bill changes the composition of each board, reduces the number of board members, and concentrates more decision-making authority in the hands of the executive director of the Board. Originally the legislation removed a requirement for one board member to represent environmental organizations; thankfully, a committee amendment restores the language requiring an environmental representative. The impacts of this bill will be more evident as key decisions impacting Utah’s air, water and environmental quality come before the board.

Electrical facilities amendments – This bill is a first step to enable the retrofit of the Intermountain Power Project (an 1800 MW coal power plant) to natural gas. The project is located in Utah’s richest renewable energy zone that includes solar, geothermal, and wind resources. Retrofitting the plant to natural gas could facilitate the integration of significant levels of renewable energy in Utah.

 

 

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Footnotes

[1] Restricted to customers served by Rocky Mountain Power. 

[2] For reference, a 2 MW single-axis tracking solar photovoltaic project located in Cedar City, Utah (Latitude: 37.7°N, Longitude: 113.1°W, Elevation: 1712 m; Array Tilt: 37.7 degrees,  Array Azimuth: 180 degrees) would generate a little over 4.1 million kilowatt-hours annually, which is equivalent to the amount of electricity used by approximately 436 average Utah homes. 

[3] Lubber, Mindy. EBay and Republican Lawmaker Score Clean Energy Win In Utah.  Forbes. 22 March 2012. URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mindylubber/2012/03/22/ebay-and-republican-lawmaker-score-clean-energy-win-in-utah/

 [4] Colorado College; Public Opinion Strategies; Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates. 2012 Conservation in the West Poll, 30 January 2012. URL: http://bit.ly/xUMh1i

 

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2012 Utah Legislative Session - Energy Policies of Interest

Title - Bill #	Clean Energy Issue	Sponsor(s)  (District)	What This Bill Does	Utah Clean Energy Position	Bill Status/ How Take Action
Energy Amendments SB12 S1	Renewable energy	Sen. Madsen, M. (Tooele, Utah Counties)	Driving renewable energy through customer choice. This bill enables large energy users to directly own or purchase renewable energy from offsite projects.	Support	Passed House and Sentate! Sent for enrolling. Bill Status
Building Code Amendments HB262	Home energy efficiency	Rep. Cox, F (West Valley City)	This bill would update Utah's 6-year old energy conservation standards for new home construction, therefore significantly reducing energy waste and saving Utah families money.	Support	Returned to Rules Bill Status
Air Quality Task Force HB70	Air quality	Rep. Arent, P. (Holladay)	Creates an Air Quality Task Force to review public and private sector efforts to improve air quality in Utah, and suggest changes to state laws and regulations that could improve air quality in Utah.	Support	ACTION NEEDED! Bill Status
Construction Trades Licensing Amendments - SB 160	Home energy efficiency	Senator Knudson, P. (R, Cache, Box Elder, & Tooele Counties)	Requires licensed residential HVAC technicians complete fuel and electricity efficiency education; modifies a provision relating to exemptions from licensure.	Support	Returned to Rules Bill Status

Need help understanding legislative jargon?  Try the Glossary of Legislative Terms

BILL DESCRIPTIONS:

Energy Amendments - Senate Bill 12
Sponsor(s): Senator Mark Madsen (R, Tooele & Utah Counties)
Utah Clean Energy Position:  Support
Bill Status - Passed House and Senate

What This Bill Does:

• This bill enables large energy users to directly own or purchase renewable energy from offsite projects.
• SB 12 is an innovative policy that helps create a market for medium- to large-scale renewable energy projects (> 2 Megawatts (MW)) and enables greater customer choice for clean energy.
• This bill creates a new means by which businesses, large energy users, local governments, and other eligible entities can purchase renewable energy and receive the benefits of that energy for their facilities.

Reasons to Support:

• Allows Rocky Mountain Power customers to purchase electricity and receive associated benefits from dedicated renewable energy projects, which can be remotely located from the customers’ facilities;
   
• Contract customers with multiple metered facilities (such as Universities or local governments) can aggregate their metered facilities in order to meet the minimum size requirement (2 MW) to participate in this unique arrangement;
   
• Fees for the use of utility transmission and/or distribution are negotiated and included in the contract terms;
   
• Requires Public Service Commission approval of contracts, which ensures additional oversight and protections for involved parties;
   
• Creates a new market-based mechanism to advance renewable energy in Utah; requires no new tax incentives.
  

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  Building Code Amendments - House Bill 262
Sponsor(s): Representative Fred Cox (West Valley City), Senator Ben McAdams (Salt Lake City)
Utah Clean Energy Position:  Amend bill to include update to latest Energy Code (2009 IECC)
Bill Status - Returned to Rules Committee.

What This Bill Does:

• This bill would update Utah's 6-year old energy conservation standards for new home construction, therefore protecting consumers from sub-par construction, reducing energy waste and saving Utah families money, and helping to improve Utah's air quality.

Reasons to Support updating Utah's Home Energy Code:

• Ensures all new homes in Utah are built to the most up-to-date energy-saving standards.
   
• Energy costs are the biggest expense of home ownership after mortgage and insurance. Failure to adopt the updated energy code will cost Utah homeowners $175 each year on average in higher energy bills.
   
• Building homes “energy smart from the start” saves money; it costs five times more to repair energy leaks and inefficiencies of homes not built to the updated code. The updated energy code requires homes to be verified and tested for energy savings. This provision ensures that homes are built right from the start.
   
• Adoption of the updated energy code is estimated to cost builders only $983 on average for a typical Utah home valued at $202,500, whereas it would cost a homeowner nearly $5,000 to fix a home’s energy problems if it were not built to the updated code.
   
• Rocky Mountain Power recently filed for a 13% rate increase and estimates that by 2018 it will be 1,500 megawatts short of meeting Utah’s energy needs - equal to the output of two large coal-fired power plants. The more energy-efficient our homes and other buildings are, the less energy they use – reducing the need to build expensive new power plants which everyone pays for through their energy bills.
   
• Energy-efficient construction helps meet Utah’s growing energy demand in the most affordable way, keeping energy costs low for everyone.
  

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Air Quality Task Force - House Bill 70
Sponsor: Arent, P.,
Cosponsors: Representatives Jack Draxler, Roger Barrus, Rebecca Chavez-Houck, Christine Watkins, Ryan Wilcox, Rebecca Edwards, Brian King, Neal Hendrickson, Gregory Hughes, Melvin Brown, Stephen Handy, Stewart Barlow, Brian Doughty, David Litvack, Jennifer Seelig, Steve Eliason, Dixon Pitcher, and Carol Spackman Moss.

Utah Clean Energy Position:  Support
Bill Status

What This Bill Does:

• This This bill creates the Air Quality Task Force in order for the Utah Legislature to begin seriously addressing the topic of air quality.
  
• Designates task force duties,
• Designates task force membership.

The Task Force will:

• Review the public and private sectors’ efforts to improve air quality in Utah,
   
• Review and suggest changes to state laws and regulations that could improve air quality in Utah. Legislative proposals will be prepared for the November 2012 Interim committee meetings and the 2013 General Session.

Reasons to Support:

• The issue of air quality has never been the subject of a legislative task force or study.

• HB 70 is intended to give the legislature an opportunity to become better educated on air quality issues, and to evaluate those issues in a non-biased fashion, so that good decisions can be made to improve Utah’s air quality.
   
• The task force will accomplish its job using factual information, good science, and an open mind to achieve Utah solutions to the air quality issues facing our state.
   

Construction Trades Licensing Amendments - Senate Bill 160 (SB 160)
Sponsors(s): Senator Peter Knudson (R, Cache, Box Elder, & Tooele Counties)
Utah Clean Energy Position: Support
Bill Status

What This Bill Does:

• Utah’s HVAC contractors, (Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning System Technicians) who work with both incidental electricity and natural gas, are currently not required to be individually licensed. This bill amends Utah’s Construction Trades Licensing Act to:

1. Create a licensing requirement for individual residential HVAC Air System Technicians (similar to electricians and plumbers);
2. Require HVAC Air System technicians to participate in industry-standard education, training and ongoing continuing education;
3. Temporarily expand the scope of the Plumbers Licensing Board to oversee licensing requirements;
4. Add members to the Plumbers Licensing Board.
5. Requires licensed residential HVAC contractors to receive fuel and electricity efficiency education.

Reasons to Support this Bill: 

• Saves Energy: Poorly designed and installed HVAC systems can use 65% more electricity than those that are properly sized using code-required energy calculations
• Improves Safety: Training and licensure will help reduce the frequency of HVAC system accidents and incidents. There were approximately 270 “incidents” involving HVAC systems from 2003-2008
• Correctly designed and installed HVAC systems operate efficiently, reduce excess demand on our utility infrastructure; this helps keep utility rates low
• Improves comfort by reducing “on-off” cycling of improperly installed heating and cooling systems
• Saves money by reducing energy consumption and avoiding unnecessary repair and replacement caused by premature equipment failure, which results when HVAC systems are “over-sized”
• Correctly designed and installed HVAC systems reduce risk to public health and safety
• Levels the industry playing field between companies that invest in employee training and companies that use unqualified technicians and poor installation practices
• Higher quality installations from technicians who use best-practices (instead of common “rule of thumb” method)
• Saves time and costs associated with repair and replacement caused by premature equipment failure
• Fewer HVAC complaints and call-backs from new homeowners