President Joe Biden and Gov. Tim Walz want to combat the global climate crisis with bold renewable energy investments combined with energy efficiency directives. Energy efficiency standards will likely increase under Biden. In Minnesota, Walz wants to strengthen the state’s Conservation Improvement Program, which helps consumers and businesses save on energy. Understanding how different strategies and products can help reduce energy demand through efficiency is the focus of the Commerce Department’s “Conservation Applied Research and Development” (CARD) program, part of the Division of Energy Resources. Created by the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 and funded by ratepayers, the CARD initiative funds $2.6 million of annual energy research conducted by firms hired by the agency through a competitive process. Since the energy act requires utilities to reduce annually retail energy sales by 1.5% through efficiency programs, lawmakers included money for research on a wide variety of topics to help them meet that goal, said Mary Sue Lobenstein, research and development program administrator.