(Sacramento) – In this Democratic weekly radio address Assembly member Jared Huffman talks about his legislation that will reduce energy use, cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and save consumers and businesses money. Assembly Bill 1109, which will result in much more energy efficient lighting, could save consumers and businesses $3-billion annually. Assembly Bill 1470, which will jump start the solar hot water heating industry, could reduce natural gas demand by 5%. In the radio address Assembly member Huffman says, quote, “Taken together these two bills, AB 1109 and AB 1470, have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12 million metric tons per year.” A full transcript of the Democratic weekly radio address follows. A link to audio of the radio address is at the bottom of this e-mail. This week’s radio address runs 2:54.

Transcript:

Hello, I’m Assembly member Jared Huffman, I chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials.

You’ve probably heard in the press that some states and countries have considered bans on incandescent light bulbs.

With climate change and energy crises looming, and with 22% of our electrical use going to lighting, it’s certainly understandable.

The Assembly, however, recently passed legislation that I authored, AB 1109, that I believe  reflects a smarter approach – one that will achieve huge energy savings and huge savings for consumers by setting technology-neutral performance standards, and then letting the different lighting technologies battle it out in the market.

AB 1109 calls on the California Energy Commission to set performance standards designed to improve the efficiency of indoor general purpose lighting by 50% over the next 10 years, with significant improvement goals for commercial and outdoor lighting, as well.

This will save consumers and businesses more than $3 billion each year on their electric bills, and it will offset the need for five 1,000 MW power plants.

The Assembly has also passed legislation that addresses a different aspect of our energy and global warming challenge:  California’s rising demand for natural gas.  AB 1470, which I’m proud to have authored, will promote the installation of 200,000 solar hot water heaters over the next decade, displacing the need to burn natural gas to heat water and saving California homes and businesses money.  By jump starting a fully developed market for solar water heating systems, we can reduce statewide natural gas demand by about 5%. 

Taken together these two bills, AB 1109 and AB 1470, have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12 million metric tons per year. That makes these some of the most potent “early actions” California can take to meet the ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals we set last year when the Legislature and the Governor passed the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32.   

In fact, these two bills alone nearly equal the greenhouse gas reduction values of the administration’s proposed “early action” items for implementing AB 32.  The Assembly believes we can and must do more than what the administration has put on the table to meet our AB 32 targets.   

In addition to AB 1109 and AB 1470, the Assembly recently passed other laws to promote the development and deployment of cleaner burning fuels and more renewable energy, and we’re working with our Senate colleagues on several other major greenhouse gas reduction bills. 

Just as important, we are increasing our focus on overseeing the implementation of AB 32 by the California Air Resources Board to make sure that the goals of this historic legislation are realized and that the scientists and decision makers at CARB are not pressured to water down our global warming protections. 

This is Assembly member Jared Huffman. Thanks for listening.

Here is a link to the audio:

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20070803RadioAddress
EnglishEnergyUseHuffman.mp3