By David Lis |
Do you remember where you were on June 2, 2014?
Some of you may have been in Newport, Rhode Island at NEEP’s first in-person Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) Market Transformation Workshop: Air Source Heat Pump Workshop – Warming Up the Market. Months before the workshop, NEEP had published a market transformation strategies report that had established a roadmap for regional stakeholder collaboration…
By Dave Hewitt |
Energy and Environmental Economics (E3), a California based consultancy, has taken a detailed look at the economics of electrification on behalf of three California utilities. The results show that: “All new construction homes and the majority (84 percent) of existing single-family homes with A/C would save by going all-electric.” For homes with air conditioning, the efficiency of advanced heat…
By Guest Contributor |
This blog was written by Mark Kresowik of Sierra Club, a Building Decarb Central partner, and represents the organization's work and approach. Building Decarb Central is meant to share different perspectives on the topic of building decarbonization. This blog is part of that dialogue.
For decades, climate protection advocates have been appropriately focused on the two largest sources of…
By Samantha Caputo |
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.
With all of this new…
By Kai Palmer-Dunning |
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. With buildings…
In January of 2015, NEEP launched a new program to more effectively differentiate air source heat pumps (ASHP) capable of high performance in cold-climate applications. A new specification had to be developed and manufacturers were invited to provide the necessary information to have their products included on the list NEEP creatively dubbed the Cold Climate ASHP Product List. NEEP has…
By Elizabeth Titus |
Evaluation work is important.
It’s a necessary practice to inform both program planning and program improvement. It’s important to plan and to look back to document and improve program performance.
As we know from the ACEEE Scorecard, the Northeast region is top-ranking in energy efficiency. And, while it may go unsung, program evaluation in the region is similarly stellar. Some examples of note…
By Dave Hewitt |
Every city climate action plan I have ever read references moving to zero energy buildings as well as more stringent or zero energy building energy codes. These are great plan elements and certainly are “doable” things to include in a plan. That said, zero energy buildings are not all that easy to accomplish across the broader market, and they certainly won’t happen without a substantial…
By Dave Hewitt |
You’ve probably seen the infamous “duck graph”, and then hopefully you’ve read “Teaching the Duck to Fly”. Well, now maybe we have the next example of zoomorphism in the energy world – the butterfly graph.
If we electrify vehicles and buildings, we use more electricity, which is hopefully renewable and close by (reduced transmission and distribution infrastructure). Currently, most utilities in…
By Dave Hewitt |
The commercial buildings market is very complex, with wildly divergent ownership, management control, and building characteristics. Buildings range from strip malls to office towers to convention centers to big box retail stores. Ownership could be local government, merchant builders (who build and then sell), local family businesses, international corporations, and fast food franchises. Each…