High Efficiency Products

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.

In the home automation space, innovations are abundant. Cool new gadgets and gizmos that simplify your life, provide an increased sense of security, and - as if an afterthought - help you save energy are popping up everywhere. While NEEP and other efficiency stakeholders have used the phrase Home Energy Management System (HEMS) to talk about products that can save energy within these ecosystems, customers are - for the most part - purchasing these devices, software, and systems for other reasons.

The efficiency community focuses on minimum efficiency appliance standards because they significantly reduce energy waste, save money and cut pollution. The following product categories, for which DOE has proposed standards, will significantly impact the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for years to come. Although each federal rulemaking is unique and has its own story associated with it, they are a reminder that the federal standards program continues to be an area of energy savings opportunity.

The progression from development of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Air Source Heat Pump Market Strategies Report to the development and growth of the Cold Climate Air Source Heat Pump Specification has been a remarkable journey.

After much pageantry and ceremony, a new LED is on course to de-throne the “traditional” options in efficient residential lighting. A new class of LEDs - with lifetimes lower than those that currently wear the ENERGY STAR mark - are set to replace traditional LEDs and CFLs in the residential lighting market.

After all of the recent holiday shopping, the last thing people want to do is step foot in another mall. Thank goodness for gift cards and the internet! As customers make shopping decisions and look for products online, we want to make sure they have the tools to access information about energy efficient options and rebates. Below we profile five web-based platforms and resources for customers and efficiency programs.

All I want is a heat pump for the holidays. You think that I’m joking, but I’m not. My room is FREEZING in the winter and a sweatbox in the summer. I’m getting tired of having to wrestle with the three (3!) blankets necessary to survive the Bostonian winters.  I haven’t forgotten last year’s winter, nor the high energy bills, which is precisely why I’m in the market for an energy-efficient cold climate heat pump.

The term Market Transformation gets tossed around a fair amount in the energy efficiency sphere, but what does it actually mean? And how can it be fully achieved? Our friends over at NEEA, a fellow REEO and respected authority on the subject, devised a definition for the term with equal parts elegance and accuracy:

This post was contributed by Lara Bonn, Efficiency Vermont's Efficient Products Strategic Planning Manager.

We buy clothes, books, and airplane tickets online. We virtually hail taxis, bank, and make international phone calls. We share photos of cats and start viral revolutions with bytes of data. Energy efficiency may be fashionably late to this e-party, but with strong partnerships and a focus on customer convenience, the movement is underway to transform how this least-cost resource is captured online.

So how are shoppers discovering energy efficient products online?