Since the 1970s, energy efficiency improvements in products used in homes and businesses across the country have helped reduce our current energy consumption by more than one-third. This reduction in energy use translates to a total savings of $430 billion – money that residential customers and businesses have been free to invest in other ways.

Lower energy bills are a major reason to implement efficiency improvements but even more important may be the subsequent reduction in pollution when efficiency standards are applied. By helping to constrain our demand for energy, efficiency improvements have resulted in the siting and building of fewer power plants and a reduced need for home heating fuels. Consequently, this has meant that fewer dangerous emissions are polluting our air and contributing to environmental and human health hazards like acid rain, smog, and respiratory diseases.

While the federal government has long supported efficiency standards for various home and business appliances, states have led the way in this policy arena. It was a patchwork of progressive state efficiency standards that led to the adoption of national standards in 1986. Moreover, states have continued to push American businesses to innovate by setting standards that encourage industry to push the envelope of what is achievable and affordable without the risk of excessive price-hikes of consumer goods or lost American jobs.

Minnesota, Massachusetts, California, and New York have all passed efficiency legislation in recent years, and other states are beginning to follow as concerns mount about our nation’s energy security and the sustainability of an energy policy focused so heavily on fossil fuel. This heightened public awareness about the need to conserve energy makes now an ideal opportunity for states to adopt their own energy efficiency standards.

Applying energy efficiency standards not only brings about a reduction in consumers’ utility bills, but also provides a cost-effective means of curbing energy demand and, as a result, reduces the harmful pollutants associated with traditional methods of energy production. During periods of budgetary shortfalls, policy solutions such as these offer multiple benefits.