By Lauren |
“The future is coming fast,” Susan Coakley, founder and executive director of the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) told us in a recent staff meeting. That statement reflects the atmosphere here at NEEP, a forward-thinking group of people helping to organize, guide, and standardize energy efficiency information, legislation, and codes on both a regional and national…
By Natalie Hildt Treat |
What a cliff hanger! In the fight to expand energy efficiency in Delaware, we had an uphill battle, a gritty gang of advocates, steadfast civil servants, a reluctant lawmaker. And somewhere in there, some extraordinary legislative maneuvering. Maybe not ready for Hollywood, but for those of us who have been toiling away to bring ratepayer-funded efficiency programs to Delaware, this victory…
By Lisa Cascio |
At the tail end of October 2013, I hit the ground running as NEEP’s new Public Relations Manager. I quickly learned about NEEP staffers, their roles, and how they all connected together to make our projects move forward. I studied NEEP whitepapers, workshops, and business plans. I looked up acronym after acronym. I met (via email, phone, and in person) scores of NEEP partners and…
By Samantha Bresler |
The products that we use every day (Appliances, Electronics, Lighting, etc.) may sound mundane and not at all dangerous, but when accumulated, their electrical consumption contributes to climatic and environmental damage. One of those products that continues to draw large quantities of power is the home’s hot water heater. Up until recently we had no alternative – no opportunity to realize…
By David Lis |
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the completion of two significant rulemakings that establish strong new minimum efficiency standards for electric motors and walk-in coolers and freezers. The two new standards will significantly reduce energy waste, save money and cut pollution. These and other product categories for which DOE has proposed standards mark an…
By Natalie Hildt Treat |
You can practically hear the hand-wringing. New England is increasingly dependent on natural gas for electricity generation, and in a long cold winter such as we’ve just experienced, heating need puts a squeeze on this energy feedstock, causing wholesale prices to skyrocket.
“But I thought all this shale gas is cheap?” you say? Well, energy intensity, environmental and public health impacts of…
By Josh Craft |
Spring has brought forth a rush of activity on energy efficiency and energy policy in states in the NEEP region. Below is an overview of a major proceeding in New York, a roundup of state legislative and regulatory activity, and a new report on the cost of energy efficiency programs.
New York Energy the Future of Utilities, Distributed Resources
New York State has opened a major proceeding on…
By Kevin Rose |
NE-CHPS Releases Version 3.0
On April 8, in conjunction with national healthy schools day, NEEP released the latest update to the Northeast Collaborative for High Performance Schools (NE-CHPS)’s construction and renovation criteria, NE-CHPS 3.0. The updated criteria now covers subjects like crime prevention through environmental design, electric vehicle integration, the zero energy policy…
By Danielle Wilson |
Join NEEP on Monday, June 2 in Newport as we gather a mix of policymakers, program administrators, system planners, federal agencies, and EM&V practitioners for a pre-Summit workshop on the evolving evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) world.
With all the buzz around streamlining EM&V as the efficiency resource grows — through developments such as use of national EM…
By Carolyn Goldthwaite |
Claiborne Pell Elementary School, Newport RI
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Along with being a trite yearbook quote, this phrase also describes the impetus behind NEEP’s workshop on the path to zero net energy buildings — buildings that generate as much energy as they consume annually. While we currently have the technology and knowledge to design and build these hyper-…