Appliance Design - December 2007 - (Page 80) ASSOCIATION REPORT: GAMA President Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association Jack W. Klimp P Have We Reached a Tipping Point? tions to develop and maintain federal standards and a national efficiency certification and enforcement system for residential furnaces, boilers, water heaters and space heaters. As a result of that broad-based support for national standards, our country has been able to conserve an enormous amount of energy, and U.S. consumers have been able to save themselves an enormous amount of money. It is widely acknowledged that energy-efficiency improvements since 1970 resulted in approximately 75 quadrillion Btus of saved energy in 2005, equivalent to three-quarters of U.S. energy use that year, and three times as much as the total energy supply growth in the period of 1970-2005. Indeed, many characterize energy efficiency as our country’s largest energy resource At the same time, GAMA member companies have produced lines of safe, reliable, efficient products that either meet the national standards or exceed them, giving consumers a choice in making purchasing decisions that are right for them. Despite that solid, undeniable record of achievement, however, the truth is that even a casual observer would have to conclude that in today’s political climate in Congress, in federal agencies, and in some state legislatures, our industry is wrongly perceived by many as opposing energy efficiency and responsible environmental stewardship. These pressing circumstances force us to confront some unsettling questions: Has our industry reached the tipping point? Have we reached the moment where change is the probability and where the rate of change is increasing exponentially? I believe we have reached that point, and I believe we must look for ways to publicly demonstrate our industry’s concern about the risks of global climate change and our commitment to energy conservation. We must demonstrate our commitment to energy diversity as a means of increasing our country’s energy supply. We must demonstrate our willingness to explore new opportunities with environmental advocates. We must seek to enlist all the employees of our industry, from the management suite to the factory floor, in these efforts. You can expect that our industry will be searching for resolutions to these important issues, and you can expect to hear more about them from us in the coming months. < www.applianceDESIGN.com ublic concern about global climate change, high energy prices and U.S. energy security, has moved energy conservation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the top of the policy agendas of Congress, state governments, advocacy groups and many organizations within the business community. Many state governments are not satisfied that the federal government is providing adequate leadership on these issues and are organizing their own cooperative initiatives. There is a coordinated effort among a large number of states, in cooperation with national and local environmental advocacy groups, to establish new, more stringent appliance energy-efficiency standards, including standards for residential heat- I believe we have reached that point, and I believe we must look for ways to publicly demonstrate our industry’s concern about the risks of global climate change and our commitment to energy conservation. ing equipment, despite federal regulation of these products. This effort is reflected also in the energy bills now being considered by Congress and in the recent residential furnace and boiler rulemaking by the Department of Energy (DOE). In short, support for additional regulation of the energy use of heating equipment is on the rise. I’m confident that you won’t find an industry more supportive of energy efficiency than the U.S. heating equipment industry, and I know that GAMA, on the industry’s behalf, has traditionally been a strong supporter of energy-efficient products and an advocate for educating the public on the importance of energy conservation. GAMA was one of the principal proponents of the National Appliance Energy Act of 1987, and from then to the present, GAMA and its members have worked with state and national organiza80 applianceDESIGN December 2007 http://www.appliancedesign.com
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