Energy Efficiency and the Farm Bill

ACEEE | Energy Efficiency and the Farm Bill

On Wednesday the Senate Agriculture Committee kicked off its series of hearings on the 2012 Farm Bill with a hearing on “Energy and Economic Growth for Rural America.” The Energy Title of the Farm Bill includes the Rural Energy for America (REAP) program, which is an important driver of energy efficiency in the United States. ACEEE has a long history with this program, supporting the inclusion of the predecessor energy efficiency provision Sec. 9006 in the 2002 Farm Bill, and analyzing this provision’s impacts , which supported the inclusion of REAP in the 2008 Farm Bill . Many types of agriculture are surprisingly energy-intensive, and farming is generally a low-profit-margin business. REAP helps farmers by allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned income in their pockets, while reducing their energy consumption. Since cost-cutting has been one of the primary goals ...

Full article: http://aceee.org/blog/2012/02/energy-efficiency-and-farm-...