ICPA Calls For Conservation Funding Over Heating Oil Assistance
Expanding usage of high-efficiency heating oil systems not only achieves federal home energy conservation initatives; it also alleviates need for federal heating assistance, says the ICPA. (image: factoidz.com)
Last week, the New Britain Herald published quotes from Gene Guilford, president of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association, proposing that the heating oil-focused nonprofit known as the Connecticut Fuel Oil Conservation Board is optimally positioned to implement the green job and home efficiency improvement initiatives awaiting Congress approval. The article is a rewritten version of a press release posted on the ICPA website last Monday.
In the ICPA’s press release, Guilford emphasizes—with bold and underlined text—that oil heat conservation programs are not only a highly fruitful means of saving energy and creating jobs; they also reduce demand for federal heating oil assistance.
The oil heat industry is leading the nation with efforts to reduce energy consumption through energy conservation programs. For every $1 that is invested in energy conservation, taxpayers save $3 in government programs that help the neediest in our society pay their heating bills - we have the Green Collar jobs right here, right now.
The Connecticut Fuel Oil Conservation Board is a nonprofit founded in large part by the ICPA that promotes energy conservation by paying for the heating system upgrades of eligible low-income fuel oil users. Because high-efficiency burners are as much as twice as efficient as older burners, their installation alone can halve a user’s annual oil consumption and heating bill. Because installations require the expertise of contractors, they create jobs in the same manner as weatherization projects recently touted by President Obama. These facts alone make a compelling case for increased federal attention to the role of the heating oil industry in conservation efforts.
But reducing demand for heating oil assistance is an aim not often quoted in discussions about reducing energy consumption. It so happens that both LIHEAP (the federal heating assistance program) and the Conservation Board are directed at the same population segment, as Guilford pointed out in comments emailed to HeatingOil.com:
We created the Fuel Oil Conservation program specifically because the first body of consumers we targeted were low-income, LIHEAP recipients who typically have the least-efficient systems and least efficient homes. Increasing whole home envelope efficiency, including the heating system, reduces consumption and reduces the need for assistance.
According to Guilford, every one dollar of taxpayer money invested in boosting home energy efficiency saves three dollars in LIHEAP handouts. The 1:3 ratio comes from an assessment conducted by the Fuel Oil Conservation Board and the state’s human service nonprofit CAFCA (the Connecticut Association for Community Action). Working together, they determined the efficiency of homes receiving LIHEAP funding; the cost of converting older heating systems in those residencies to newer, highly efficient ones; and the reduction in heating oil demand that would result from these upgrades. He added; “The same basic ratio has been found true in the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and other energy efficiency programs we deal with.”
This dollar-worth comparison of federal heating assistance support and fuel oil conservation programs requires careful thought. It’s true that lower-income families participating in equipment upgrades would reduce demand for heating assistance and ultimately save taxpayers’ money. However, in a scenario where the Connecticut Fuel Oil Conservation Board receives increased funding for efficiency programs, the funds would most likely come not from the federal government but from the state.
Guilford’s emphasis on reducing heating fuel consumption through conservation over helping those in need pay for the heating oil they’ve already burned makes a lot of sense, but we also need to be aware of a segment of the population not included in this discussion. People who don’t qualify for LIHEAP and still struggle to pay heating bills rely on assistance from state-level LIHEAP supplement programs like the Contingency Heating Assistance Program (CHAP) in Connecticut. If a state government were to re-allocate funds for these supplemental programs to conservation efforts, some families might be left without the help they need.
According to Energy Star and the US Department of Energy, nearly half of the average American home’s energy use goes towards heating and cooling. Zooming out, the Institute for Market Transformation found that a whopping 40 percent of the nation’s total energy consumption comes from buildings. These stats are what have made home energy efficiency a key component of last year’s stimulus package and weatherization the centerpiece of President Obama’s latest job-creation proposal, the HomeStar program (also known as “Cash for Caulkers,” and currently awaiting inclusion in a congressional jobs bill).
Federal energy saving programs tend to emphasize big expensive measures to save energy, but more focused and simple processes of simply conserving fuel usage in the first place is, as the ICPA’s press release shows us, a more effective use of taxpayer money.
