By Derek Koundakjian |
My vacation to Costa Rica last week was a brilliant reminder of two things. One, Costa Rica is very hot, even in February. And two, air source heat pumps are incredibly effective at what they’re designed to do. Truly, the difference between being indoors versus outdoors during the Costa Rican dry season was night and day. The Airbnb my partner and I rented in Tamarindo, a little beach town on the…
By John Balfe |
Since the dawn of time, energy efficiency supporters have touted benchmarking as the critical first step to reducing energy consumption in the buildings sector. Whether it's the first step or not, the age-old saying "you can't manage what you don't measure" is true. Assessing our energy performance is critical to inform improvement efforts.
Benchmarking programs raise awareness and bring…
By Samantha Caputo |
It’s a new year, which means a new opportunity to ramp up policy efforts to decarbonize our economy. We are one month into 2020 and so much has already happened with each state’s legislative session kicking off. The Northeast is responding to a call to action on climate and pushing the bar to ensure that we are carbon-neutral by 2050. Already, a few trends have surfaced, including carbon neutral…
By Carolyn Sarno |
During the Great Depression, women were discouraged from working. Why? So that the few jobs available could go to heads of households, aka male breadwinners.
But then, along comes World War II and the majority of the workforce is gone, off to fight the war. The need for war supplies continued to exist and factories across the nation needed workers. What could they do? Who could fill…
By Elizabeth Titus |
These days in the energy world, meters are getting a lot of media exposure. With spot meters, smart appliances, building management systems, utility billing meters, and smart meters (which are also known as advanced metering infrastructure or AMI), the energy industry may start drowning in data. And yet, people are asking: do we have enough?
Meters Matter
So why do meters matter? Meters are the…
By Moses Riley |
My grandparents used to live in an 1821 Connecticut farmhouse. The property was beautiful – original wood floors and beams, nine acres of yard, a horse shed, big garden, small creek, and towering maple and oak trees. We always considered spending the holiday season there, but never did; mold, mildew, and rot that had grown throughout the structure triggered allergic reactions and severely limited…
By jwassan |
Last fall, just as the weather started to turn, my old AC condenser met its death. It was a sad time – not because I needed to worry about cooling my house, but because all I saw was a future filled with dollar signs and stress.
Thankfully, I work at NEEP, and know all about the benefits of heat pumps. An air source heat pump (ASHP) seemed like the logical, no-brainer next step. Turns out, this…
By Samantha Caputo |
As 2019 comes to a close and we look towards the start of a new decade, there is a lot on which to reflect. I think about the calendar year turning to 2020 and know that leaves us with just 10 years to drastically reduce our emissions to prevent catastrophic climate impacts. Ten years doesn’t seem like a long time, yet so much can happen in that time. During the last 10 years, I graduated high…
By John Balfe |
When you think of energy efficient buildings, who are the critical market actors that come to mind? Perhaps it’s those that are responsible for the design and construction of buildings – the architects, engineers, and contractors. Or maybe it’s your local utility company that offers some form of a rebate or incentive for installing energy efficient equipment.
The true unsung heroes of the…
By Kai Palmer-Dunning |
A History of Climate Leadership
In 2009, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to adopt an above-code appendix to its “base” building energy code. This appendix was called 780 CMR Appendix 115.AA, more colloquially known as the “Stretch Code”. The adoption of the Stretch Code came on the heels of Massachusetts also becoming one of the first states to sign the Global Warming…