Turning Policy into Performance: Measuring Equity to Achieve Restorative Justice

I know what you’re thinking, “not another COVID-19 blog.” Understandable, though as industries across the nation face impending challenges due to the pandemic, these unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures to remediate further business interruptions.With economic impacts intensifying across the nation, the real estate industry has been quick to make changes and adapt to current social…

Of the American workforce not working from home before COVID-19, only 20 percent are able to do so now. I am one of the lucky few who have been able to easily transition my work from an office to my kitchen. For most, this has not been the case, and the energy industry has been devastated by the pandemic. While I am able to continue work alongside my fellow NEEPers, we are adapting our work in…

The COVID-19 crisis has changed nearly everything. In four short months, a preventable disease has caused millions of people to suffer, many to die, and sent economies across the globe into serious recession – a truly regrettable human disaster.   Fortunately, as the extent of the crisis became clear, state and local government leaders across the Northeast United States rose to the…

During uncertain times like right now, it can be challenging to predict the future or feel comfortable in the unknown. This year started off with a lot of action around policies for energy efficiency and climate, but things have changed quickly in the last few weeks. In response to COVID-19, a lot of state houses have closed their doors and adjourned early. NEEP is tracking state legislative…

A lot has changed in the world over the past few weeks and months. It continues to change, even on a daily basis. The way we work and live has completely transformed. NEEP’s physical office shut down mid-March; we’ve moved to all remote work. Overnight, I went from waking up and driving 35 minutes into work every day to waking up and walking one minute to my makeshift office in the living room. I…

Welcome to the latest REED Rendering issue, a series of blogs where we bring your attention to interesting trends that we see in the data and the stories behind those trends. Here in Lexington, Massachusetts, we can feel the changing seasons. Spring has arrived! This spring also marks changes to the Regional Energy Efficiency Database (REED). In 2019, NEEP performed an extensive review…

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…

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…

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…

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…