Setting the Table for Building Decarbonization

For quite some time, the zero net energy concept has struggled to reach beyond the domain of policy advocates and pilot projects; but the world is changing. Recent storms of unparalleled intensity, falling costs of distributed generation, and the real world possibility of large-scale energy storage have led to a unique moment in the building energy industry: Daybreak on Net Zero Energy. But…

Greater Energy Savings through Building Energy Performance Policy, a new report by the Department of Energy’s State & Local Energy Efficiency Action Network (SEE Action) provides recommendations for state and local governments to design policies and programs to achieve measurable improvements in efficiency outcomes in commercial buildings. The vision for the document is a future where…

For more background, see our earlier 2014 Building Code Preview Unlike automobiles, appliances, or consumer electronics, buildings constructed today will still have an impact on U.S. energy use 50 to 100 years from now—if not longer. Building energy codes improve the energy efficiency of these long-term investments by setting minimum requirements for new and renovated buildings. In…

We are fortunate to have three bright college interns working with us in Lexington this summer. Trevor, Lauren, and Erika are learning as much as they are contributing to our work, being exposed to an array of topics, joining external meetings and events, participating in NEEP projects and partnership groups, and generally getting a taste of the wide world of energy efficiency programs and…

John Otterbein, Marketing Communications Associate Throw some popcorn in an energy efficient microwave, turn down the overhead, living-room LEDS with your shiny-new home energy management system, and join our story’s protagonist, energy efficiency, on a myriad of journeys. Every year we nominate, film, and present video case studies highlighting forward thinking businesses that have molded…

NEEP joined friends in Delaware and fellow supporters of energy efficiency from around the nation in cheering a landmark bill passed in the final hours of the state’s legislative session. Included as an amendment to Senate Bill 150, the legislation set the stage for the state’s ratepayer-funded electric and gas efficiency programs to be administered by utility providers. Natalie Hildt Treat,…

Danielle Wilson, Regional EM&V Forum Associate Comparing the Evaluation, Measurement & Verification (EM&V) world to alphabet soup can be an apt description. ANSI, TRM, NREL, TNB, UMP, FERC, NAESB are just a few of the acronyms and initialisms that came up at the pre-Summit evaluation workshop hosted by NEEP’s Regional EM&V Forum (the Forum) on June 2.* Over 60 policymakers,…

Last week, during a special meeting of the Cambridge City Council that ran for more than six hours, through the night and into the next day, the Cambridge City Council approved a Building Energy Usage Disclosure Ordinance.  What brought the meeting beyond the midnight hour?  Continue below to find out… First Things First: What is Building Energy Benchmarking? Building Energy…

Massive grid defection could happen in the near future. A speaker at New England Electricity’s 141st Restructuring Roundtable, “The Electric Utility of the (Near?) Future; and The Promise of Storage for Renewables,” presented on the economic benefits of going off the grid, sending ripples through the packed audience that lined the walls and filled the overflowing room. Tom King, Executive…

“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…