New York (Platts)--16Jul2007

US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman on Monday said energy efficiency
must play a key role in a carbon-challenged future.

     He also applauded the energy efficiency policies of various states,
especially California, Minnesota and New York, and backed federal and state
partnerships to promote energy efficiency.

     "Prioritizing energy efficiency has to play a role" in managing demand
growth and climate change, Bodman told the National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners' summer meeting in New York City. 

     Regulators "have perhaps the most important role to play in securing
access to this valuable energy source," he added.

     "Energy efficiency by definition means selling less" gas and electricity,
he said. But in answer to a reporter's question after his speech, he said 
decoupling utility sales and profits was just one of many tools that states
had available to them.

     DOE will help states expand, enhance and institute their energy
efficiency programs, Bodman said, and he asked states to evaluate and
strengthen building codes and to develop demand-response technologies.