April 7, 2008—Vermont Governor Jim Douglas recently approved a bill that will promote energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the state, called the Energy Efficiency and Affordability Act of 2008. According to analysis by the US Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the legislation creates a new $4 million fuel efficiency fund that will be financed from existing revenues and from the sale of emission credits under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
The fund will provide energy efficiency services to the state’s consumers of heating and process fuels, says EERE. The state will use a competitive process to award the funds to service providers under performance-based contracts. The new legislation also assures that the state’s building energy standards are upgraded to keep pace with changes to the international energy conservation code. Regarding renewable and distributed energy use, the bill expands net metering to include renewable energy systems up to 250 kilowatts in capacity, up from only 15 kilowatts, and allows for combined heat and power systems up to 20 kilowatts in capacity. Net-metered systems earn credit for power fed back into the utility grid, notes EERE. The bill also doubles the cap on net-metered systems to 2% of the peak demand as of 1996.
It also takes the step of allowing groups of buildings, such as all the municipal buildings in one town, or all the schools in a district, to be consolidated on paper into one net-metered system. Individuals, such as residents of an apartment building or a subdivision, can also apply to be treated as a group, adds EERE.
For customers who don’t want to own their own renewable energy systems, the bill requires all utilities to offer a voluntary green power program. It also establishes an alternate education property tax of 0.3 cents per kilowatt-hour for wind energy facilities that are at least 5 megawatts in capacity, and allows businesses to earn solar energy tax credits. In addition, EERE notes that the bill encourages the state to use more biodiesel in its vehicles and buildings.
The full text of Bill S 209 is available online.
