The Obama Administration issued a statement yesterday in support of Senate Bill 1392, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013. The Washington Post described the bill as “timid” and “politically palatable”. That’s a good thing.

The goal of the legislation is to codify and beef up existing federal government programs that seek to reduce energy waste, such as building energy codes and industrial energy efficiency programs. The bill would also seek to identify energy savings opportunities in federal buildings.

“Energy efficiency is a large, low-cost and underutilized US energy resource,’ said the administration statement. This echoes common-sense calls for efficiency enhancements from several prominent voices in energy, including Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and International Energy Agency Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven.

Energy efficiency legislation offers substantial opportunities for costs savings, emissions reductions and energy security enhancement. When you use less, you pay less, you emit less, and you need less from potentially unfriendly suppliers. Basic measures – such putting a computer monitor to sleep in lieu of using a screen saver – play bit parts in reducing consumption when looked at individually, but across the massive fleet of large federal buildings, can add up to a lot. Simple energy efficiency enhancements at Bloomberg’s 215 global locations have saved the company millions of dollars and kilowatt hours.

Unlike oil and gas drilling, research and development for advanced biofuels, wind production tax credits and the Keystone XL pipeline, energy efficiency, as an issue, doesn’t generate much political fuss (though it has generated some – the Heritage Foundation opposes SB 1392). Given the tenor of the debate over other critical energy issues right now, the relative lack of excitement over efficiency legislation could mean that something productive may actually happen in US energy policy.