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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 12, DECEMBER 1992

NEWS...
U.S. ENERGY BILL

Item #d92dec149

After several months of discussion and revision, the Energy Policy Act of 1992 was signed by President Bush in October. It sets up a voluntary reporting and certification system for CO₂ emission reductions or offsets by businesses. (The system could form the basis of a future tradable CO₂ emission permit program, as discussed in Global Environ. Change Rep., pp. 1-3, Oct. 9, 1992, although the bill does not call for such a program.) The bill requires the Department of Energy to analyze strategies for mitigating or adapting to climate change, and to develop a least-cost energy strategy for reducing the generation of greenhouse gases.

The energy bill also contains the most comprehensive energy efficiency provisions ever passed by Congress, aimed at residential and commercial buildings, electrical equipment, utilities and the federal government. It provides funds for technical development of renewable energy sources, creates a program for exporting renewable technologies to developing countries, and offers financial incentives for public utilities to use renewable resources.