market transformation

There is no denying that the impacts of global warming have created a sense of urgency to accelerate decarbonization efforts in all sectors – from transport and electricity generation to building and industry.

Last month in Woburn, Massachusetts, 135 air source heat pump (ASHP) stakeholders gathered to discuss market transformation strategies for ASHPs. NEEP has been hosting this annual in-person workshop since 2014 and this represented our largest event yet. The workshop is a critical opportunity for regional stakeholders to focus on collaborating towards market transformation.

Welcome to the latest REED Rendering issue, a series of blogs where we bring your attention to interesting trends that we see in the data and the stories behind those trends.

On June 27-28, NEEP will be convene its fourth annual Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) workshop at Schneider Electric’s campus in Andover Massachusetts. Key ASHP stakeholders from around the region will come together to discuss various market strategies aimed at transforming the region's residential space heating and cooling market from one dominated by gas and oil heating systems to one with deep penetration of ASHPs.

The US EPA’s ENERGY STAR Program, created in 1992 under the President George H. W. Bush administration, is a star performer in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic energy efficiency success story. NEEP states and efficiency programs – from the District of Columbia to Maine – rely on the ENERGY STAR label to distinguish quality and efficient lighting products, home appliances, consumer electronics, and homes and buildings in order to help meet aggressive energy savings goals, comply with legislative mandates, and reduce carbon emissions.

It is with mixed emotions that I write this blog to bid adieu to one of the hallmarks of energy efficiency, residential lighting. While homes across the region and nation still have inefficient lighting technologies installed, the market transformation path for this measure is all but inevitable, and the need for NEEP’s continued thought leadership has ended.

Energy efficiency is changing. For years, if not decades, lighting has been a reliable and relatively easy source of energy savings across sectors. The extremely cost-effective savings, coupled with the commodity nature of lighting, has rightfully earned its reputation as a “bread and butter” measure.