(3) each is credited by EPA as substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Appendix I provides funding levels, the number of participants, and other information about each program. The Green Lights Program is designed to encourage organizations to The Coalbed Methane Outreach Program is designed to encourage coal EPA establishes annual program targets for the programs, such as the volume of reductions in greenhouse gases (except for foundation programs, as noted above) and the number of participants. It tracks progress against these targets, relying primarily on reports from the programs' participants. However, EPA does not independently verify these reported reductions. 'EPA refers to it as Waste WISE. B-276994 Greenhouse Gas Green Lights Program Efforts to improve energy efficiency, increase recycling, and achieve related goals have been under way for years. These long-standing efforts make it difficult to measure the programs' "net" reductions—those that result only from CCAP programs-as compared with total, or "gross," reductions-those that result from CCAP programs as well as from other, nonprogram factors. EPA officials told us that measuring the net reductions that are strictly due to the results of CCAP efforts is difficult." According to EPA, 2,308 organizations were participating in the Green Lights Program as of February 1997. These organizations committed to upgrade the lighting in 6 billion square feet of floorspace, about 9 percent of the national total, according to EPA. Through fiscal year 1996, Green Lights participants reported upgrading the lighting in 1.3 billion square feet of floorspace, resulting in greenhouse gas reductions of 0.6 MMTCE. Although some of the reported reductions may be the result of influences from outside of the Green Lights Program, EPA did not attempt to measure the program's "net" benefits. Officials said that they believed that any reductions that resulted from other factors were likely offset by the reductions achieved by the nonparticipating organizations that were influenced by the program but not reported to EPA. According to the representatives of seven former participants we spoke with, the program had a positive impact on these organizations' efforts to achieve energy savings from lighting technology. When we interviewed officials at these organizations that had completed their participation in the Green Lights Program, representatives of all seven said that they were pleased with the program. For example, some representatives said that they viewed the data provided by EPA on the benefits of specific lighting technologies as being valuable and objective. The reductions reported by EPA could be overstated if some Green Lights participants undertook at least some of their lighting upgrades because of nonprogram factors. Four factors suggest that some upgrades were made because of nonprogram factors. First, according to a 1992 survey of commercial buildings, a substantial amount of floorspace was upgraded before the Green Lights Program was 'According to EPA officials, in a forthcoming report the administration will provide information on its estimates of the net greenhouse gas reductions resulting from the climate change programs. The report is scheduled to be issued in July 1997. B-276994 well established. The national survey of commercial buildings was conducted by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA). The survey found that 43 percent of commercial floorspace had lighting conservation features (such as occupancy sensors and time clocks) and that 22 percent of the floorspace had undergone an energy audit (which can identify opportunities for saving energy) in the previous 5 years. Second, financial incentives that were available during the early to mid-1990s may have induced some organizations to install energy-efficient lighting. Officials of the Edison Electric Institute, an electric utility trade group, estimated that 80 to 90 percent of its members offered financial incentives during that time period to encourage their customers to install more energy-efficient lighting. By offsetting some of the costs of lighting upgrades, such assistance provides an incentive to adopt energy-efficient lighting. In fact, Green Lights participants reported to EPA that they had received $143 million in such rebates through fiscal year 1996. Third, some of the reductions attributed to the Green Lights Program were achieved by companies involved with lighting products, which could be expected to install energy-efficient lighting without the program. Of the 2,308 Green Lights participants, 593, or about one-quarter, were classified as "allies," that is, companies that manufacture, sell, and install lighting products. The reductions reported by these companies account for about 6 percent of the program's total. However, such companies could be expected to install energy-efficient lighting even without the Green Lights Program, given their knowledge of the benefits of this technology. Finally, most of the representatives of organizations we spoke with about lighting upgrades, some of whom had participated and others who had not, told us that they would likely have made some of the upgrades without the program. When we spoke with the representatives of seven organizations that had completed their affiliation with the program, five of the seven stated that they would have done some or all of the upgrades without the program; the other two stated that they would not have done the upgrades without the program. In addition, we spoke with representatives of two major national corporations that did not participate in the program. Both companies told us that they had undertaken major lighting upgrades in the past few years without EPA's assistance. This survey was conducted shortly after the Green Lights Program was implemented. See Commercial B-276994 State and Local Outreach Green Lights Program officials noted that they did not attempt to offset the reported reductions that may have been attributable to these other factors because they believe the program has offsetting impacts above and beyond the reductions reported by the participating organizations. For example, they noted several instances of nonparticipating companies that they believe undertook lighting actions as a result of information furnished by the Green Lights Program. However, they said they had not attempted to quantify the extent of the uncounted reductions by nonparticipants. According to EPA, 29 states and Puerto Rico have conducted inventories of their greenhouse gas emissions, 42 cities are developing action plans, and 7 demonstration projects have been selected for evaluation. Program officials said that although the program does not have a greenhouse gas reduction goal, it resulted in a reduction of 0.8 MMTCE in 1996. Most of the reduction, about 0.7 MMTCE, was attributed to one Studies by an EPA contractor and the hardware association raised questions about the link between the program's activities and the reported reductions, as did our analysis of data in the hardware association's study. First, the EPA contractor that analyzed the data on the project's effects said that there was no concrete estimate of the project's impact because, among other reasons, of the difficulty of collecting sales data and a seeming lack of methods for reporting progress in greenhouse gas 'Although program officials said they adjusted the estimated reductions, in part, because some purchases might have been made without the program, we found no analytical basis for either the initial estimate or the adjustment to it. B-276994 Source Reduction and Recycling Program emissions (which would result from reduced energy consumption) Although the Source Reduction and Recycling Program has two When we spoke with seven WasteWise participants about their **Planet Protection Center Program: Presentation and Discussion of Emissions Reductions Results," ICF. Inc. (1996). "Environmental Merchandising and Advertising/Promotion in the Retail Hardware/Home Improvement Industry. National Retail Hardware Association (Indianapolis, IN: Aug. 1995). |