Almost lost amid the fireworks over the “fiscal cliff” is the fact that Congress and the Administration did an eminently smart thing on energy efficiency as part of the compromise fiscal package.

The President has now signed into law an extension through 2013 of two important tax incentives, 25C and 45L, that will continue spurring jobs and growth in a sector of the economy – construction and home retrofitting – that desperately needs it. Does this success on tax credits mean that 2013 will be the year that Washington policymakers – at long last – embrace a concerted commitment to energy efficiency?

Incentivizing individual taxpayers and businesses to embrace measures that save energy and strengthen America’s quest for energy independence is smart policy – but only if Congress sets a course and sticks to it.

The results of Tuesday’s election could indeed alter the course of certain energy policy issues, from natural gas exploration to oil drilling on federal lands to future support for renewable energy.

But support for the ultimate renewable – energy efficiency – isn’t likely to change as a result of the 2012 election or any election, for that matter.

Why?

Yes, in some respects, America has made headway in our two-generation-long quest to become more energy independent. As the President pointed out last week, we’re doing a little better on all-of-the-above energy production and conservation.

But we’ve got a long way to go. And by not taking simple steps that we know from experience will work, we’re making the goal of true energy independence infinitely harder to achieve.

Reports of bipartisanship’s demise – at least when it comes to the policy prescriptions surrounding increased energy efficiency – are greatly exaggerated.

It’s true that efforts to enact a comprehensive energy package are mired in divisive wrangling that’s not likely to disappear anytime soon. But energy efficiency initiatives – encouraging home- and business-owners to install greater levels of insulation and embrace other ways to save energy – enjoy broad support, are gaining traction, and stand a decent chance of being enacted, if not before the November elections then during a lame duck session this fall.