The Energy Policy Act of 1992, effective October 24, 1992, (102nd Congress H.R.776.ENR, abbreviated as EPACT92) is a

United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

act. It was passed by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

and set goals, created mandates, and amended utility laws to increase clean energy use and improve overall

energy efficiency in the United States The United States is the second-largest single consumer of energy in the world. The U.S. Department of Energy categorizes national energy use in four broad sectors: transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial. Energy usage in transpo ...

. The Act consists of twenty-seven titles detailing various measures designed to lessen the nation's dependence on imported energy, provide incentives for clean and

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

, and promote

energy conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...

in buildings.

Amendment of prior energy acts

It reformed the

Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), also known as the Wheeler-Rayburn Act, was a US federal law giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to regulate, license, and break up electric utility holding companies. It l ...

(PUHCA) to help small utility companies stay competitive with larger utilities and amended the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978, broadening the range of resource choices for utility companies and outlined new rate-making standards. It also amended parts of the Federal Power Act of 1935 (Title VII).

Titles

The act addressed: *energy efficiency, energy conservation and energy management (Title I), *natural gas imports and exports (Title II), *alternative fuels and requiring certain fleets to acquire

alternative fuel vehicle An alternative fuel vehicle is a motor vehicle that runs on alternative fuel rather than traditional petroleum fuels (petrol or petrodiesel). The term also refers to any technology (e.g. electric car, hybrid electric vehicles, solar-powered ve ...

s, which are capable of operating on nonpetroleum fuels (Title III-V), *electric motor vehicles (Title VI), *

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapon ...

(Title VIII), *coal power and clean coal (Title XIII), *renewable energy (Title XII), *and other issues.

Title I--energy efficiency

Title I established a comprehensive energy efficiency program that included incentives for energy conservation in buildings and created efficiency standards for appliances. The EPAct directed the federal government to decrease energy consumption in federal buildings when feasible, and to integrate the use of alternative fuel vehicles in federal and state fleets. There are separate sections dedicated to coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy detailing clean energy incentives, research & development strategies, conservation goals, and responsible management practices.

Energy efficiency provisions

*Buildings - Requires states to establish minimum commercial building energy codes and to consider minimum residential codes based on current voluntary codes. This gave impetus to the creation and modification of

ASHRAE 90.1 ''ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings'' is an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard published by ASHRAE and jointly sponsored by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES ...

/1999, 2001, ASHRAE 90.2, the Model Energy Code etc. *Utilities - Requires states to consider new regulatory standards that would require utilities to undertake integrated resource planning; allow the energy efficiency programs to be at least as profitable as new supply options; and encourage improvements in supply system efficiency. *Equipment Standards - Establishes efficiency standards for: Commercial heating and

air-conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

equipment; electric motors; and lamps. *Renewable Energy - Establishes a program for providing federal support on a competitive basis for renewable energy technologies *Alternative Fuels *Electric Vehicles *Electricity - Removes obstacles to wholesale power competition in the

Public Utilities Holding Company Act The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), also known as the Wheeler-Rayburn Act, was a US federal law giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to regulate, license, and break up electric utility holding companies. It ...

(PUHCA).

Title III--alternative fuels

Title III of the 1992 Energy Policy Act addresses alternative fuels. It gave the U.S. Department of Energy administrative power to regulate the minimum number of light duty alternative fuel vehicles required in certain federal fleets beginning in fiscal year 1993. Title III includes: *Federal Fleet Requirements. *State and Alternative Fuel Provider Rule. *Private and Local Government Fleet Rule. *Alternative Fuel Designation Authority.

Title VI--electric motor vehicles

The

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States ...

, which has EPACT92 implementation authority, ruled that diesel-electric or gasoline-electric hybrids are not "alternative fuel vehicles."

Title VIII--radioactive waste

Section 801 directed the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

to promulgate radiation protection standards for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, which had been designated by the Federal government to serve as the permanent disposal site for used nuclear fuel and other radioactive materials from commercial

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ...

s and U.S. Department of Defense activities.

Title XII--renewable energy

Title XXII in the EPAct authorized

tax incentive A tax incentive is an aspect of a government's taxation policy designed to incentivize or encourage a particular economic activity by reducing tax payments. Tax incentives can have both positive and negative impacts on an economy. Among the posi ...

s and marketing strategies for

technologies in an effort to encourage commercial sales and production.

Title XX--reduction of oil vulnerability

Section 2026 known as Renewable Hydrogen Energy establishes a five year program in accordance with the Spark M. Matsunaga Hydrogen Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1990 for the distribution, production, storage, and utilization of hydrogen.

Impact

EPACT92 was far reaching in the impacting electric power

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

building code A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for constructed objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permissi ...

s and new energy efficient products. The act was also responsible for the mandate of low flush toilets and outlawing the installation of toilets that flushed more than 1.6 gallons (6 liters) of water.

References

External links

Thomas (Library of Congress) - Energy Policy Act (1992)

U.S. Department of Energy - Yucca Mountain Project site
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060901153306/http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/energypo.html {{Portal bar, Energy, Renewable energy, Science 1992 in the environment 1992 in law 102nd United States Congress United States federal energy legislation