"The National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency is an important tool for putting energy efficiency in its rightful place as a cornerstone of U.S. energy policy," Alliance to Save Energy Kateri Callahan said today.

Washington, D.C., July 31, 2006 - "The National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency is an important tool for putting energy efficiency in its rightful place as a cornerstone of U.S. energy policy," Alliance to Save Energy Kateri Callahan said today, as the plan was unveiled at the Summer Meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in San Francisco. The Action Plan was introduced by Jim Rogers, who serves as CEO of Duke Energy and is a new member of the Alliance Board of Directors.

The Action Plan has the potential to defer the need for 40 new 500-megawatt power plants, avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 35 million vehicles, lower the cost of air pollution controls, and reduce demand for natural gas sufficiently to bring down prices if fully implemented.

"With promoting energy efficiency worldwide as its core mission, the Alliance to Save Energy could not be more pleased that key stakeholders from across the U.S. have banded together, under the umbrella of the National Action Plan, to increase utility investments in energy efficiency, a key energy resource," Callahan said.

"For its part, the Alliance will work diligently to secure implementation of the best practices and recommendations in the Action Plan at the local, state and federal levels, with particular emphasis on those states where investments in energy efficiency currently are low and/or non-existent," Callahan continued. "For example, we will use the Action Plan as a roadmap for action through our recently-formed Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), which is organized to advance energy efficiency in the 11-state, southeastern region of the U.S. - an area of the country where energy efficiency investment lags the rest of the country," Callahan said. (States covered by SEEA include Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.)

The Alliance is a member of the "Leadership Group" that developed the national action plan and which comprises 23 electric and gas utilities, seven state energy regulators, and more than 30 other organizations with a commitment to energy efficiency. In addition, many other organizations and companies are lending their support by serving as "observers" to the Leadership Group.

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The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, economy, and national security.