It's not often that I say something nice about Virginia Republicans, but here are two exceptions.
*Del. Terry Kilgore (R-1) has a bill, HB219, that appears to be a good one:
Sales and use tax; Energy Star products tax holiday. Adds a second four-day period when certain Energy Star products are exempt from the sales and use tax. Currently, the Energy Star products tax holiday is during the month of October and this legislation places the second one in April.
*Del. John Cosgrove (R-78) has two bills that appear to be good ones. First, HB233:
Phosphorus prohibition; dishwashing detergents. Bans the use of phosphorus in detergents for household dishwashing machines. Phosphorus is one of the primary sources of water pollution. The bill contains a delayed effective date of July 1, 2010.
Second, HB239:
Classification of real property; energy-efficient buildings. Provides that energy-efficient buildings that meet performance guidelines or standards under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, EarthCraft House program, or Energy Star program may be classified as a separate class of real property for tax purposes...
Finally, here are two good, green bills from a Democrat, Del. David Poisson (D-32). First, HB153:
Solar water heating system pay-as-you-save pilot program. Directs the State Corporation Commission to analyze, and if appropriate, to establish, a pilot program whereby residential customers who install a solar water heating system will be able to pay for the system as an item on their monthly electricity bill.
Second, HB164:
Department of General Services; Division of Engineering; use of compact fluorescent light bulbs in state-owned and occupied buildings. Requires the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs in state-owned and occupied buildings by January 1, 2011. Under the bill, all state-owned and occupied buildings shall discontinue the use of incandescent light bulbs by December 31, 2010, and in the intervening period replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs.
These all look to be promising bills on energy and environment. Tomorrow, Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34) will unveil his Virginia Clean Energy Future Act. Is Virginia going "green?" It's starting to look that way, and not a moment too soon!
And in a few years we will go through this again with white LED bulbs. I can't say when these will start to appear in stores - I can pull something out of my you-know-where and say that within 5 years these will be available on store shelves. I already have LED bulbs on my bicycle for a headlight that are roughly equivalent to CFLs in terms of energy efficiency, and the R&D labs have already been able to double this. It is a matter of bringing the things to market at a reasonable price. I suppose when we reach this point another bill will be required.
I really like Poisson's bills, though. The solar water heating legislation seems like it provides a real, strong incentive. And it's about time someone introduced a bill banning incandescent bulbs in state buildings. Each incandescent bulb that could be replaced by a CFL but isn't costs us as taxpayers $3 in energy costs every year. Forget about the environmental benefits, the numbers alone are irrefutable.