Proposed cuts to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget are drawing criticism from trade groups.
A 32% budget cut, which would eliminate the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership and the energy efficiency rating Energy Star scheme, has been proposed as part of President Donald Trump’s budget template.
According to trade group the Alliance for Industrial Efficiency, 389 businesses are currently signed on to the CHP Partnership. The group said the scheme “works to remove policy barriers and to facilitate the development of new projects in the US and its territories by promoting the economic, environmental, and reliability benefits of CHP”.
The CHP Partnership has been in force for 12 years and the Alliance said it is directly responsible for one-third of the 22 GW of CHP capacity that have been deployed during that time.
Among the businesses in the partnership are CHP project developers, engineers, equipment manufacturers, facility owners, clean air officials, utilities, financiers, and state and local governments, according to the Alliance. The EPA’s annual CHP Energy Star Awards recognize successful projects developed under the scheme.
The Alliance organized a letter campaign in support of the Partnership that it said was signed by over 100 businesses. The letter was due to be delivered to Congress this week.
In addition, over 1000 companies and organizations reportedly signed a letter in support of the Energy Star programme.
Source: Decentralised Energy