ENERGY CONSERVATION AND IMPROVED ENERGY EFFICIENCY
WHEREAS, energy conservation and energy efficiency are crucial components to any national
energy plan; and
WHEREAS, the nation's mayors understand the need for the efficient and economical use of
energy resources, which is critical to the future health of local economies and is of strategic
national importance; and
WHEREAS, most of our nation's energy use is concentrated in communities, cities and regions,
inefficient energy use is systematically draining families, businesses and local governments of their
economic sustainability; and
WHEREAS, managing energy on the local level offers savings potential that is high enough to
increase disposal income by 5 to 12 percent, increase home ownership by 5 to 10 percent, reduce
infrastructure outlays, and increase high wage employment; and
WHEREAS, the California experience during the energy crisis demonstrated the value of
conservation and energy efficiency where consumers actually saved sufficient energy to forestall
outages and other disruptions that reduced the impact of the crisis on users; and
WHEREAS, sustained investments in new energy technology, smarter building codes,
conservation improvements, appliances and fixtures, and building rehabilitation means more dollars
stay in the local economy; and
WHEREAS, an increased rate of improvement in energy efficiency in the production, distribution,
and end-use of energy reduces the effect of fluctuating prices, mitigates air pollution by reducing
the need for new power plants, achieves greater energy security for the nation, conserves the
nation's energy supplies, reduces the total amount of energy needed by the nation, lower energy
bills, and reduced use of natural resources; and
WHEREAS, energy conservation and energy efficiency is important at all levels of the energy
market which includes not only consumers of energy, but also the production/generation and its
distribution,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the federal government should create a
partnership with state and local areas to target energy use, helping stimulate a broad range of
locally initiated strategies which address energy demand. Furthermore, this new partnership should
support and stimulate local actions to aggregate large numbers of energy users together to,
improve transparency in market functioning and accessible information, and should be
cooperatively developed and implemented by federal, state and local governments working
together as full partners to maximize energy efficiency and conservation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors reaffirms its
strong support for energy efficiency and incentives to promote greater efficiency in appliance and
equipment efficiency standards that reduce energy use; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Conference of Mayors encourages the Department of
Energy to improve the energy efficiency of appliances by supporting and expanding the scope of
appliance standards programs and setting higher standards where technologically feasible; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that through a genuine collaboration among federal, state and
local governments with additional input from interested public and private sector parties there
should be an aggressive educational campaign promoting the many benefits of using energy
efficient products and increasing conservation efforts in cities.
©2003 U.S. Conference of Mayors 
