Sec. 2. Findings and purposes
480 words·~2 min read·
/bill/113/s/1205/is/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds that— a quantity of energy that is more than— 27 percent of the total energy consumption in the United States is released from power plants in the form of waste heat; and 36 percent of the total energy consumption in the United States is released from power plants, industrial facilities, and other buildings in the form of waste heat; waste heat can be— recovered and distributed to meet building heating or industrial process heating requirements; converted to chilled water for air conditioning or industrial process cooling; or converted to electricity; renewable energy resources in communities in the United States can be used to meet local thermal and electric energy requirements; use of local energy resources and implementation of local energy infrastructure can strengthen the reliability and resiliency of energy supplies in the United States in response to extreme weather events, power grid failures, or interruptions in the supply of fossil fuels; use of local waste heat and renewable energy resources— strengthens United States industrial competitiveness; helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels and the associated emissions of air pollution and carbon dioxide; increases energy supply resiliency and security; and keeps more energy dollars in local economies, thereby creating jobs; district energy systems represent a key opportunity to tap waste heat and renewable energy resources; district energy systems are important for expanding implementation of combined heat and power
(CHP)systems because district energy systems provide infrastructure for delivering thermal energy from a CHP system to a substantial base of end users; district energy systems serve colleges, universities, hospitals, airports, military bases, and downtown areas; district energy systems help cut peak power demand and reduce power transmission and distribution system constraints by— shifting power demand through thermal storage; generating power near load centers with a CHP system; and meeting air conditioning demand through the delivery of chilled water produced with heat generated by a CHP system or other energy sources; evaluation and implementation of district energy systems— is a complex undertaking involving a variety of technical, economic, legal, and institutional issues and barriers; and often requires technical assistance to successfully navigate these barriers; and a major constraint to the use of local waste heat and renewable energy resources is a lack of low-interest, long-term capital funding for implementation. The purposes of this Act are— to encourage the use and distribution of waste heat and renewable thermal energy— to reduce fossil fuel consumption; to enhance energy supply resiliency, reliability, and security; to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; to strengthen industrial competitiveness; and to retain more energy dollars in local economies; and to facilitate the implementation of a local energy infrastructure that accomplishes the goals described in paragraph
(1)by— providing technical assistance to evaluate, design, and develop projects to build local energy infrastructure; and facilitating low-cost financing for the construction of local energy infrastructure through the issuance of loan guarantees.