Obama Establishes National Energy Review; DOE Announces Home Energy Scoring Tool

Excecutive Branch Activity

President Establishes National Energy Review

President Obama has issued a memorandum which establishes a “quadrennial energy review” in order to coordinate energy and climate change goals. The review will involve multiple federal agencies, state and local governments and will target the energy delivery infrastructure in the U.S.  The review will focus on “climate change, cyber and physical threats” that may impact energy delivery. The first review is due to be completed by Jan. 31, 2015.

Regulatory Activity

Home Energy Efficiecy

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a new “Home Energy Scoring Tool” that allows prospective homebuyers to compare energy efficiency across potential homes. The tool also recommends energy efficiency improvements. The DOE maintains that the updated tool is more precise and sensitive to local environments, collecting information from more national weather stations that ever before.

Legislative Activity

This Week’s Hearings:

President’s Climate Action Plan

Thursday, January 16: EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Nancy Sutley will testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee about President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan.

Timber

Tuesday, January 14: The House Natural Resource Committee will hold a rescheduled oversight hearing concerning the application of sequestration to the Secure Rural Schools Program, which is funded from proceeds from timber logged on National Forest Land.