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and welcome to ASHRAE's Government Affairs Update. Archives of previous updates are available from the
Government Affairs Webpage (http://www.ashrae.org/advocacy).
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have any recommendations regarding content, or have questions about or would
like to participate in Washington Office activities, please contact ASHRAE
Government Affairs staff at (202) 833-1830 or washdc@ashrae.org.
ASHRAE
Government Affairs Update, 11/4/11
- Faith
Being Lost in Super Committee to Complete Work; Policymakers Threaten to
Undo Fallback Automatic Spending Cuts
- Congress
Comes Closer to Passing DOE Funding Bill for 2012 Fiscal Year
- ASHRAE
and Penn State Sign MOU
- High-Performance
Buildings Congressional Caucus Holds GPIC Briefing on Capitol Hill
- Washington,
DC Engineering Public Policy Internship Seeks ASHRAE Student Applicants
Faith
Being Lost in Super Committee to Complete Work; Policymakers Threaten to Undo
Fallback Automatic Spending Cuts
The
much promised – and feared – super committee (officially called the “Joint
Select Committee on Deficit Reduction”) may follow the path of so many past
deficit reduction attempts, and not amount to much after all.
Made up of
House and Senate Democrats and Republicans, the super committee is charged with
identifying at least $1.2 trillion in federal budget cuts over ten years, and
has until November 23 to deliver recommendations and proposed legislation to
Congress on how to achieve this target. Congress is then required to vote on
this legislation by December 23, 2011. However, with Republicans and
Democrats seemingly unable to reach compromise over revenue increases (such as
taxes) and how much to cut defense and health care spending, it now appears
likely that the Committee and Congress will fail to meet the November and
December deadlines.
Unless
Congress passes legislation that reduces the deficit by at least $1.2
trillion, automatic spending cuts (also known as
"sequestration") are slated to start going into effect on January 2,
2013; however even this is now in doubt. A bipartisan groundswell of
support is building among several House and Senate Members for legislation
that would either reduce the size of the automatic cuts or eliminate them
altogether, arguing that Congress should have more say over federal spending
decisions.
Congress
Comes Closer to Passing DOE Funding Bill for 2012 Fiscal Year
As early as
next week, the Senate may seek to pass legislation that would provide funding
to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), General Services Administration, and
State Department for fiscal year 2012. This bill would provide $1.7 billion to
DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (under which the Building Technologies, Building
Energy Codes, and State Energy Programs fall), as well as $105 million for the
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
EIA
administers the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), and the
$105 million for EIA would allow work to resume on CBECS (the last Survey is
from 2003).
It is
unclear what, if any amendments Senators may offer that would change these
funding levels, however ASHRAE has learned that several prominent Republican
and Democratic Senators do generally support this bill, as they wish to
complete work on the funding bills for the 2012 fiscal year.
The federal
government is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that
temporarily funds government programs through November 18, 2011. Congress
will likely need to pass at least one more CR to give policymakers more time to
come to agreement on spending priorities and pass the annual funding bills.
ASHRAE
and Penn State Sign MOU
ASHRAE
recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pennsylvania State
University (Penn State) to improve energy efficiency and reduce the
environmental impact of buildings through the Greater Philadelphia Innovation
Cluster (GPIC) for Energy-Efficient Buildings.
High-Performance
Buildings Congressional Caucus Holds GPIC Briefing on Capitol Hill
The High-Performance
Buildings Congressional Caucus held a Capitol Hill briefing on October 27 which
sought to educate Members of Congress, their staff, and building
community advocates on the work, goals, and purpose of the Greater
Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC) for Energy-Efficient Buildings.
Below are
the briefing description, speakers, and their presentation titles:
Briefing description:
Selected
last year as the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy-Efficient Building
Systems Design Hub, the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC), is led
by Penn State and tasked with improving energy efficiency and operability, and
reducing the carbon emissions of our nation's buildings, as well as stimulating
private investment and job creation. This briefing will cover the new and
existing technologies that will be utilized and tested at the Hub along with
program goals to transform commercial building retrofits and new construction
processes across the United States and to demonstrate building operational
energy savings of 50% within the next three years.
Presentations:
The
GPIC Concept: Approach and Expectations
Richard
Karney
ENERGY
STAR Product Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy
The
Science and Market Drivers Behind GPIC
Jim
Freihaut
Associate
Professor of Architectural Engineering, Penn State University
Industrial
and Economic Aspects of GPIC
Bill
Sisson
Director,
Sustainability at United Technologies Research Center
The
GPIC/ASHRAE Partnership
Bill
Bahnfleth
Treasurer,
ASHRAE
Professor
of Architectural Engineering and Director of the Indoor Environment Center
Penn
State University
Washington,
DC Engineering Public Policy Internship Seeks ASHRAE Student Applicants
ASHRAE is
now accepting applications for the 2012 Washington Internship for Students of
Engineering (WISE) program. The WISE program provides selected participants
with a unique opportunity to interact with and learn from government officials,
professional societies, and others who are involved with crafting national public
policy that affects the engineering profession and building industry.
Applicants
must be ASHRAE student members. Applications are available at http://www.ashrae.org/advocacy/page/1226, and must be postmarked or emailed
by December 31, 2011.
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