The Pending Natural Gas Crisis:
Near-Term Solutions for Legislators and Consumers

 Monday, July 14, 2003
2318 Rayburn House Office Building

           The House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses, the Sustainable Energy Coalition, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a Congressional briefing on the near-term energy efficiency and renewable energy options available to mitigate the pending natural gas crisis.  According to US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, ameliorating this pressing situation requires a “focus on the smart uses of energy.”  To stabilize natural gas prices at affordable levels, the United States’ increasingly high natural gas demand must be re-aligned with its limited supply.  If aggressively pursued, energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives can reduce natural gas consumption by more than 10 percent, and unlike their supply-side counterparts, can be implemented in the near-term (6-24 months).  The co-benefits of this approach are significant. Utilizing natural gas resources in a more efficient manner, and displacing natural gas use in the electricity and thermal sectors with renewable energy resources, can help protect the economy, safeguard against increased reliance on foreign energy imports, and retain domestic jobs.  Discussing these available solutions was the following panel:

Briefing Panel by Topic: 

Ø       Energy Efficiency: Opportunities in the Building Sector and Policy Responses
  Bill Prindle, Deputy Director, American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy  Presentation

Ø       Energy Efficiency: Opportunities in Industry and Voluntary Campaign Responses 
  Mark Hopkins, Acting Co-President, The Alliance to Save Energy

Ø       Energy Efficiency and Electricity:  Saving Natural Gas
  Jennifer Schafer, President, Cascade Associates Presentation

Ø       Natural Gas Displacement and Price Reductions through Renewable Energy
   Alan Nogee, Program Director, Clean Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists Presentation

Ø       Methane Aggregations and Conversion Technologies
  Scott Sklar, President, Stella Group Ltd. Presentation

The prospect of volatile and skyrocketing natural gas prices has caught the attention of the policymaker community and the nation.  The US Department of Energy recently held an emergency summit to brainstorm potential solutions, and several Congressional hearings have been convened to discuss the issue.  The next hearing is scheduled for July 10th before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and features Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve.  As Congress and the Administration continue to look for near-term solutions, energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives warrant serious consideration.        

       A ‘silver-bullet’ solution to the natural gas crisis does not exist; yet the advantages that energy efficiency and renewable energy can offer are numerous.  Whereas the construction of new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities would lead to increased dependence on foreign energy imports, energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives can help protect American jobs and provide rural economic development.  Whereas expanded drilling and fuel switching to coal and nuclear energy would foster increased environmental degradation, energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies are clean and sustainable.  Most importantly, whereas the construction of new LNG facilities, drilling operations, and coal or nuclear plants would all require significant lead times (2+ years), energy efficiency and renewable energy resources can be tapped in as little as 6-12 months. 

       Join us at this briefing to hear energy efficiency and renewable energy experts explain ways to address this crisis at both the constituent and Congressional levels.  Panelists will outline specific actions that constituents can take to reduce their natural gas consumption, such as investing in EnergyStar-rated air conditioning units.  Panelists will also provide specific policy recommendations that, if enacted, would jumpstart energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives.  Examples include supplementing funding for energy efficiency deployment programs, expanding and extending the production tax credit for renewable energy technologies, and enacting an aggressive renewable portfolio standard.   These, and other vital steps, can be taken by Congress to help decrease and displace demand for natural gas, thereby providing protection for the American public and the economy from detrimentally high gas prices over the next two years and beyond.        

       For more information about the briefing, please contact JR Drabick at EESI at 202-662-1886 or jrdrabick@eesi.org.