“To study and modernize the measurement and reporting of United States energy use, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states the purpose of the Act to improve U.S. energy performance, transparency, and decision-making by modernizing measurement and accounting of gross energy input into the national energy system and includes congressional findings that (1) historical primary energy measures inadequately capture noncombustion sources, (2) measurement differences obscure trends in electrification, decarbonization, and productivity, and (3) enhanced energy accounting will support evidence-based policymaking and market efficiency.
This section requires the Secretary of Energy, with support from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Administrator, to conduct a study evaluating the validity, limitations, alternatives, and international practices for primary energy indicators in national energy accounting and to submit a report with recommendations to specified congressional committees within 18 months of enactment. It further amends the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7135) by adding a new subsection (n) to direct the EIA Administrator to develop, collect (via surveys where feasible or model-based estimates otherwise), analyze, and publish incident energy statistics (i.e., total energy entering energy conversion technologies from natural sources, including solar radiation, wind, and nuclear materials, before transformation losses)—complementary to existing primary and final energy data—in EIA reports with side-by-side comparisons, while making all related data publicly available in machine-readable formats. (Thus, the new statistics support assessments of energy-conversion efficiency and system performance for thermal and nonthermal sources without altering current primary energy reporting.)