Free Example of Government Budgeting Essay

The need to use energy in our day to day activities is unavoidable; however, due to the concern of high energy prices, as well as the increasing rate of pollution in our environment, The New York state policy has deduced ways of saving energy and conserving the environment through the introduction and implementation of the ENERGY STAR tools which have provided effective and efficient methods to reduce energy costs and provide a cleaner environment which has been beneficial to the American economy.

ENERGY STAR is a voluntary program by the US Energy Protection Agency (EPA) designed to provide energy efficient products and promote effective use of energy through reducing green house gas emissions. The label was first used on computers and monitors, which was then extended to office equipments and residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Through technological and technical innovations ENERGY STAR provides a wide range of tools and information to the customers and general public on efficient ways of reducing energy consumption, which has seen the government, earns millions in total revenue. Today over 200 million products with over 60 product categories have been purchased by the Americans resulting to over 80 percent energy costs saved (Worthington, 2009).

EPA ENERGY STAR                                                                                 

The EPA has had various partnerships with federal, state and local governments and the Non-governmental organizations  to restore the health of the communities and provide a clean ecosystem favorable for everyone to live and work in.

The year’s budget includes a $27 million multidisciplinary initiative for healthy communities which supports and promotes healthy environments by providing technical support and resources to address air toxics to communities at risk. This goal aims at providing a healthy community to live in by providing environmental health. However, the communities that benefit from this program will contribute to the cost of the clean up. This helps in rein stating the superfund taxation that provides a stable, dedicated source of revenue to be placed in the superfund trust where the revenues would be available for the support of the clean up program of the nations contaminated sites. New source performance standards could be an effective method to reduce green house gas emissions from the industrial sources. NSPS program provides the opportunity to achieve emission reductions at new facilities through actions such as improvements in energy and industrial process efficiency. EPA also launched a green house data tools which aim at identifying the major sources of green house emissions in the United States.

EPA also aims at providing clean and safe water for consumption by people to protect human health and provide a healthy habitat for fish, plants and wildlife. Through establishing a Clean Air Act, the agency will be able to balance the climatic environment through ensuring that there is no contamination of the water, as well as the food for the wildlife and aquatic animals, therefore saving the lives of people as well as the animals.

Apart from creating a safer environment, the agency also wishes to preserve and restore land by using innovative waste management techniques to reduce the risks posed in the environment by the release of harmful substances. This is for example pesticides and fertilizers which may be harmful to the soil and which may cause hazards when swept away by rain waters, which drain into rivers, lakes or oceans causing pollution.

EPA ENERGY STAR offers a variety of household items including heating, lighting, cooling and electricity products for improvement of the existing homes as well as that of new homes. This has been successful through the partnering of thousands of building contractors who install the ENERGY STAR products in new homes, which has led to millions of homes having these products.

The program is also leveraged in commercial buildings. This includes places like offices, schools, hospitals that use ENERGY STAR tools which include office equipments, machinery, etc. In New York thousand of businesses as well as the industries possess this label, which has proved to be helpful in reducing the costs not only of energy but also maintenance costs as the products are fully effective and designed to provide an environmentally friendly environment for the thriving of the business.

Reducing green house gas emissions helps to curb the problem of climate change. Some green house gases such as carbon dioxide pollute the air resulting to some green house effects which may pose harmful effects to the environment. The ENERGY STAR program has however helped to save over $9 billion energy costs. EPA has standardized GHG emission management programs which aim at reducing industrial pollutions through education and training programs on ways to conserve the environment.

EPA also has a Green Power Partnership that encourages various organizations to invest in the green power project as a way of reducing the high impacts of energy costs; for example, electricity costs, as well as portrays environmental stewardship. Overall, this Energy preservation policy by the US government has achieved a market of over $ 10 billion in sales of their products and over a million market share of their products. This attributes to over 40% of the total energy products in circulation in the US markets.

Funding program

In determining the government expenditure, the government undertakes a cost benefit analysis that determines the minimum costs combination of government projects to address a certain issue. This means establishing projects that will enable to save costs and will help in accomplishing certain objectives. EPA ENERGY STAR is an effort by the government to reduce energy costs in the United States. This is a good example of the cost benefit technique used by the government in reducing the costs of energy. Another technique used by the government in coming up with projects is the benefit principle which aims at linking the goods and services that the government provides to the benefits that these goods and services provide to the consumers. ENERGY STAR offers a variety of products to the customers and is a basis for various projects. The benefits these products give to the consumers should be a key determinant in determining whether the product or the service that the government offers is likely to succeed or not and also helps to forecast the consumer demands towards the product or service. ENERGY STAR has received a multitude of demands from consumers which has led to the continued development of the program and also many institutions prefer the label.

In coming up with alternative means to finance the government project, the equity efficiency theorem plays a key role. This explains that the means to finance should be fair and relatively easy to pay, with only minimal loss in efficiency. This program should come up with means of funding that are acceptable, effective and profitable.

ENERGY STAR is a program which is currently funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) in the USA. EPA and DOD allow the business institutions, the local government as well as residential buildings to use the ENERGY STAR label on their products provided they meet the criterion for energy preservation and efficiency. However, the purchase of ENERGY STAR products does not necessarily mean that it will save on energy costs. Most of the customers lack the necessary information concerning the products of ENERGY STAR or are unwilling to purchase the expensive products. However, certain funding options may be used to sustain this program (Means, 2010).

The introduction to the Energy Service Company ESCO helps to develop and funds projects aimed at preserving energy. ENERGY STAR is a good example that utilized these companies such as EPA and the DOD to help to fund the project which is aimed at managing energy sources as well as preserving and providing a healthy environment. State’s assistance is another option that could help to finance certain projects. This is whereby a state will help to provide finances for the project and monitor the operation of this project as well as the performance of this project. Such will become a state project. For example, ENERGY STAR could approach the New York government to finance their project as it helps to save the economic conditions of the country as well as the people. Loan services are widely provided in financial institutions in most countries. This includes places such as banks. The program could borrow funds to be able to operate and develop with a promise to return the loan at an interest when the project has fully been established and is capable of earning profits. Most organizations use this funding option to come up with starting capital or to acquire immediate finances for the business. ENERGY STAR could also get involved in performance contracts with businesses and institutions to provide them with services when necessary. For example, for their clean up project an organization could hire some labor workers from ENERGY STAR to provide cleaning services to the organization. This organization in turn will pay for the services they are receiving. This may be a slow but an assured way of coming up with funds to finance the program (International Monetary Fund, 2009).

The risk of investment is having no returns. ENERGY STAR may first decide not to do anything regarding the investment so as to be able to accumulate funds that will help in its operations. Later, when the program is well developed they may start to attract investors. This strategy of no investment is as a result of risk of no returns. Investors, however, want to see the returns on their investments which may lead them to invest in a more developed project rather than a new project which may be difficult to predict how it will perform in the future, that is whether it will be profitable or not.

Restrictions on revenues

There are restrictions that could be placed on those revenues to ensure effective facilitation of the program. For instance, the ENERGY STAR could offer warranty of their products. This helps to depict the quality of their products. Some customers or organizations may purchase these products at an expensive price only to find out that they are of little quality. If the usage of the product exceeds the warranty period, the product is termed as quality product and this may help to attract more customers to the program. ENERGY STAR helps to promote a safer environment by offering certain services and have come up with various projects to that effect. Their revenues however should be used only to facilitate and fund this program and not just for personal gains. This ensures that the program runs successfully and through this program could expand and start on a new project that helps in energy conservation.

Revenues forecast a firm’s profit margin and this could be used by the government in developing the sate income which could mean the development of the economy through coming up with development projects such as starting new businesses so as to provide employment to those unemployed, developing infrastructure as well as improving the existing businesses in a state. By doing so the state income continues rising as well as the economic development of the country.

In an effort to save human life, the government should come up with strict policies to evade those who live near industries that are involved in production and manufacture of poisonous gases. For example, the chemical industries where toxic wastes may be emitted as well as poisonous gases which are harmful for human health. Such areas should be restricted for any residential buildings. Some of these green house gases are beneficial in the production of some products but may pose hazards when taken in by human beings. This saves the costs of having to come up with immediate projects to protect those who live around such industrialized areas.

Toxic wastes should be deposited in places where they are in accessible to either humans or wildlife. This means that industries that deposit toxic wastes should find a safer way of getting rid of their wastes, in areas where there are no drainage systems since these wastes are drained in water sources, where the water is used for consumption by human beings and the animals risking the lives and health of the affected parties. The revenues should however be used to establish a common drainage system for such wastes which will save on costs used to clean such environments.

How public policy decisions affect the receipt of revenues

Public policy decisions are those decisions made by the government regarding certain issues facing the state. These policies are expected to be followed by everyone in the country. Some of the policies may not be favorable for some industries and organizations as they may cause a lot of pressure on them in terms of taxation and other government policies. The EPA ENERGY STAR program is a policy that was introduced by the US government in an effort to save the energy consumptions in the country and to reduce the costs of energy. This program also aims at providing a sustainable environment for the sustainability of the human life and providing a clean ecosystem. Through this program the government earns a lot of revenue from the installation of these tools, for example in commercial and residential buildings where most of the buildings in the US have this label. In government funded programs such as Clean-Up Act, it may not be a source of major revenue for the government as it is mainly a voluntary program. The government may only be able to earn some revenue from the super trust tax where the communities involved participate in the clean-up activities to reduce wastes. Through helping organizations to tap energy savings, EPA is able to earn some income (Portney, 2000).

However, some policies may act in opposition to some organization. For example, the issues of taxation may render a business futile, where the organization may not be able to make enough of the funds required to sustain the business. For instance, a business that is not doing so well may find it hard to pay taxes to the government and this may lead to the closure of the business or may render the business bankrupt. The income and substitution effect on taxes generally lowers the level of income and increases the prices of the products causing economic instability. The public policies may also affect the market. This includes the demand and supply curve. Restrictions in some supplies may cause high demand for the products. To achieve market equilibrium, the supply and the demand for the products should be equal. Trade barriers may lender some products or services hard to find in certain countries. This may cause an unstable equilibrium in the supply- demand curve. The impact of the market on the revenues is that most of the buyers will not be able to purchase the products as well as the government will not provide the supplies. This reduces the receipt of revenues in certain businesses where there are these trade restrictions and policies. However, most of the government policies aim at increasing the country’s revenue. Subsidies are also major ways of earning revenues for the government where the government aims at reducing the cost of living through offering such programs as EPA ENERGY STAR, which minimizes costs.

Economic conditions that affect revenue projections

The level of income and employment in a certain country affects the revenues in that when there is no employment the revenues goes down since only a moderate amount of people is able to earn income from employment, rendering the total taxable income in the country to be low. Every employee’s income is taxed and it is from these taxes that the government is able to earn revenues to use in the development of the country. EPA ENERGY STAR offers a wide range of employment services through their various programs such as cleaning the environment, plant and building programs, water programs, etc. through providing this labor force, their income is taxed by the government depending on how much each individual earns.

Inflation which can be defined as the amount of money in circulation, dictates the borrowing capacity of individuals as well as businesses. When an economy is going through inflation, the individuals find it hard to borrow money from the financial institutions. This is mainly because there is a lot of money in circulation as well as the borrowing rates tend to high rendering people to prefer other sources of acquiring the money. At the same time the paying power of those who had borrowed money is high, which also discourages the people from borrowing money from these institutions.

Economic growth and position of a country determines the amount of finances the society is earning. A low economic growth means that there are less people making a good living whereas the other individuals in the society are barely making a living in the society. This may mainly be due to high rates of unemployment in the country. For example, during economic boom businesses do very well and there are a lot of people being employed and earning a good pay. The revenue projections at this time are very high but during economic recession this is when businesses are not making substantial amounts of profits and many employees are likely to lose their jobs. This is a strategy taken by many organizations to save costs involved in having to pay for labor. During this time the revenue projections in a country decrease tremendously (Miller, 2009).

The market and market prices of products of a certain country also affect the revenues of a country. This includes the demands of certain products as well as the prices attached to theses products. For instance, if a certain commodity has no market in the country, it has no demand and hence the public will not purchase the product. At the same time, if there is not enough supply of the product, the consumers will not be able to access the products; hence the government revenues go down. The market demand means that the buyers have the purchasing power to acquire the product.

Revenue policy that aligns with community values

This is a policy that takes into consideration the values, practices and interests of the society that is aimed at improving the life of the society through coming up with rules and decisions to solve issues related to revenue. A revenue policy aims at controlling the budget of a country. When a budget balance is accomplished, there is no budget deficit or  budget surplus. This is when revenue is equal to the expenditures. The EPA ENERGY STAR policy can be said to be one that is eco-friendly and values the community through provision of a cleaner and safer environment for the community. For example, policies regarding health care and the human civil rights in America are policies that support and help to maintain the values of the community (Portney, 2000).

Conclusion

The EPA ENERGY STAR program is a successive policy which has seen major developments in both the environment and energy sector; two sectors which provide high revenues for the government. Its tools will surely provide an effective and efficient method of reducing the energy costs and providing a cleaner environment which will be very beneficial to the American economy.

The tools provided by ENERGY STAR has seen millions of dollars being saved and installation of many of these products in buildings as well as the successful implementation of the various projects involved to help to save the environment. Such innovative projects have seen many Americans embracing the idea of going green and looking for favorable ways to conserve the environment in which they live and work in. This policy has provided the effective means not only of saving the environment but also educating the citizens on ways to manage the environment appropriately, as energy is a necessity in our everyday life. There is a need to create a better environment for our tomorrow that is for our future generation.