Last year, several energy efficiency provisions included in the contentious Keystone XL Amendment had been eagerly anticipated—including provisions for industrial energy efficiency, R&D coordination, “best practices” principles for advanced metering, and data collection and federal energy management standards. When the Keystone bill failed to get on the Senate Floor, many saw it as a disappointing setback, but many of the amendments provisions are finding new life as part of a re-released Energy Savings and Industrial Competitive Act.

The ambitious bipartisan bill is designed to “improve energy efficiency in buildings, the manufacturing sector, and the federal government.” Introduced by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OG), it mirrors many of the policy recommendations released by the Bipartisan Policy Center earlier this year. 

Senator Shaheen highlighted the bills benefits in a statement, saying, “Energy efficiency is the fastest, most cost-efficient way to tackle our energy needs and keep our economy competitive, all while creating needed and sustainable jobs. Passing this bill would be a clear and quick win for the economy, taxpayers, and the environment.”

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) conducted a preliminary analysis of the new bill, and concluded that it could save up the US up to 9.5 quadrillion BTUs over the next 16 years (2014–2030), would save about 9.5 quadrillion BTUs between 2014–2030 (http://aceee.org/files/pdf/testimony/nadel-senate-energy-subcomm-6-25-13.pdf), or “nearly one-tenth of the annual energy use of the US” (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/15/2302981/shaheen-portman-the-little-energy-efficiency-bill-that-could-but-will-it/?mobile=nc).

In testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Energy on June 25, Executive Director of ACEEE Steven Nadel conjectured on expanding the bill’s scope to increase energy efficiency and savings, “including provisions that would promote benchmarking in large commercial and multifamily buildings, coordinate energy efficiency retrofits at schools, increase energy efficiency efforts in states through a “race-to-the-top” program, and reauthorize the low-income Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and the State Energy Program (SEP).”

A summary of all of the provisions included in the Shaheen-Portman bill can be found here.