Bi-Weekly Column: New Energy Efficiency Bill Spurs Job Growth, Makes Ohio Companies More Competitive

Statement

My top priority in the U.S. Senate has been to promote policies that will help create jobs and economic growth. Since being elected last year I have traveled to every corner of our state, and everywhere I go I meet Ohioans who are frustrated by a continued weak economy and the inability of Washington to do what needs to be done to help create economic growth and jobs.

These concerns led me to draft a specific jobs plan for Senate Republicans, which includes seven common sense steps to create the right environment for job growth.

One of the elements of the jobs plan is a new national energy plan to find more U.S. sources of energy to alleviate our dependence on foreign oil. But we can also lessen that dependence by using less.

Recently, I introduced the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness (ESIC) Act with Senator Shaheen (D-NH).

The bill will make our economy more productive and create jobs by incentivizing the use of energy efficiency technologies in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of our economy. Existing efficiency initiatives have already saved taxpayers more than $300 billion in energy bills and have reduced national energy use substantially. Our bipartisan bill takes efficiency to the next level through a variety of low-cost tools to encourage the use of efficiency technologies that will reduce costs for businesses and consumers, while making America more energy independent.

We believe this legislation will increase both our economic competitiveness and our energy security, while stimulating the economy and encouraging private sector job creation.

Ohio is the fourth largest manufacturing state in the country, with factories producing $84.1 billion worth of goods in 2008 and generating 18 percent of the state's gross domestic product. Our new efficiency legislation includes effective provisions that will help Ohio manufacturers prepare for the future.

Ohio is also at the forefront nationally in manufacturing products that make homes and businesses more energy efficient. Workers in Owens Corning's world class facility outside Toledo, Ohio are developing and manufacturing insulation technologies that will be made in Ohio and will help reduce the energy consumption of our nation's buildings, which today consume 74 percent of our nation's electricity.

As a matter of fact, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee recently held a hearing focused on the ESIC Act where Jay Scripter, Vice President of Sustainability at Owens-Illinois, testified on behalf of the bill. "I commend Senators Portman and Shaheen for their work on S.1000, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2011," said Scripter. "It is bipartisan and sensible--and, among other things, it provides opportunities for America's energy-intensive industries, such as glass manufacturing, to work cooperatively with government to increase energy efficiency."

Nationally, the manufacturing sector consumes 30 percent of all energy used by our economy--more energy used than by any other single sector. By installing more energy efficient equipment and processes, manufacturers can achieve significant energy savings. These savings will allow them to reduce costs on consumers and free capital to invest in their companies and create jobs.

The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act is a strong, targeted, and achievable attempt to make significant changes in the way our nation consumes energy. I look forward to working with Senator Shaheen and other Members on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to see this bill signed into law, which will increase both our economic competitiveness and our energy security, while stimulating the economy and encouraging private sector job creation.

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