Buildings

With a population of just under 8,000 people, Montpelier, Vermont is the smallest state capital in the United States. It's a small town with big-city amenities - a lively arts and music scene, great restaurants, excellent schools, and an active community life. The city’s approach to energy and sustainability is no different.

In December 2017, NEEP published a revised edition of the Model Progressive Building Energy Codes Policy paper, or as we like to call it, our “energy code bible”. The latest version – a new Building Energy Codes for a Carbon-Constrained Era: A Toolkit of Strategies and Examples paper is divided into two sections.

Communities – whether at the state or jurisdictional level – are stepping up and taking their energy future into their own hands. And, in discussions about the energy future of communities, there’s also talk around reaching carbon reduction and resiliency goals. Communities are exercising their power and autonomy in making their goals a reality.

Who remembers the original Batman and Robin television show? There have been lots of iterations of the caped crusaders, but in my opinion, Adam West and Burt Ward are the one and only dynamic duo.

The market of buying and selling homes is evolving, with consumers mindful of sustainability and the environment. At the same time, our homes are evolving and new technologies and practices are becoming increasingly prevalent in the real estate market. These technologies and practices make a home far more energy efficient than the housing stock to which we are accustomed.

In many states around the country, the increased stringency of building energy codes is the only way to ensure that building energy is reduced over time. However, international building energy codes are only updated periodically and sometimes take years to be adopted at the state level. This often results in building energy reduction falling behind state carbon reduction goals.

In baseball, the ace is a team’s superstar starting pitcher – a dominant and reliable player that takes the mound every five games. In poker, an ace is the highest ranking card and cause for optimism when dealt your way. On NEEP’s Buildings and Communities Solutions Team, ACE is an exciting new project that will help transform energy efficiency initiatives in communities.

Interested in learning more? Check out these top seven things to know about the project.

What does it stand for?

It’s simple, ACE stands for Achieving Community Efficiency.

Every year in the fall, I head to Cape Cod for a last-ditch vacation before the year-end work crunch hits and the New England winter begins to take hold. 2018 was no different. At least as I headed to Provincetown.

Three days before I was supposed to return home, vacation was cut short. While I was at the beach without cell service, my family frantically called and texted. “Turn on the news,” all the messages said. And, just like that, life changed.

On January 25, 2019, NEEP held its first Massachusetts Achieving Zero Energy (MAZE) stakeholders meeting. As an intern who’d just started that same week, I was excited and curious to hear the subject matter and how people from various professional backgrounds thought of the topic.

Massachusetts has been number one on the ACEEE Energy Efficiency Scorecard for eight years in a row. It is important that we celebrate this massive achievement. It’s also important to recognize that we have the tools, the state leadership, and the grassroots manpower to do better.