Setting the Table for Building Decarbonization

This year – for the first time in a while – NEEP interns attended the Summit, and the lessons learned there, both around energy efficiency and professional development, were invaluable.   The 2023 Summit was a three-day affair, taking place in New Haven, CT at Hotel Marcel – the first Passive House certified hotel in the country. The event’s sessions covered a wide array of topics, from…

In April, Connecticut became one of a handful of states to start implementing performance-based rates. Performance-based rates (PBR) align utility profits with public policy goals by changing how utilities invest and make money. In past blogs, we have explored how states can use metrics to pivot program design to include climate and equity goals, and this blog will look at how states can…

If you’ve been following the world of heat pumps, you know this past year has seen a lot of changes, from new minimum efficiency metrics (SEER2/HSPF2) to an influx of public funding to support heat pump adoption. How are states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic incorporating these changes into their programs? In this post, we’ll explore the forces affecting the heat pump market and some…

Most people got accustomed to (and then very tired of) saying “unprecedented times” over the last few years with the Covid-19 pandemic, but the occasion is not quite over for our industry. Right now, we are in an unprecedented time of federal funding for clean energy and infrastructure, and as a young professional I’m already sure I’ll be talking about this point in my career for a long time! A…

Prior to joining NEEP, I worked as a HERS Rater in Massachusetts for about two and a half years, and I want to share some lessons learned during this experience.  What is a HERS Rating? “HERS” stands for Home Energy Rating System, and HERS Raters are accredited by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). A HERS Index, which is a score that Raters award to a home energy system, is…

Completing and scaling comprehensive home energy retrofits has long been a goal of many programs within the energy efficiency industry. In 2020, NEEP continued to rethink home retrofits in collaboration with The Building Performance Professionals Association of Vermont and Energy Futures Group (EFG), launching the second phase of the Zero Energy Now (ZEN) pilot. ZEN is different than single-…

Virtual power plants (VPPs), an aggregation of distributed energy resources, provide a deeper integration of demand flexibility and renewables on our energy grid, which can offer cleaner and more affordable power. They operate by aggregating distributed energy resources (DERs) to meet grid needs and optimize consumer energy usage. By aggregating the power of several DERs, a virtual power plant…

After a busy winter of collecting, organizing, and analyzing new 2020 data for the Regional Energy Efficiency Database, NEEP is excited to share some new trends and results. This blog highlights how the latest REED data offers insight into regional trends. Expenditures Per Capita In 2020, states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic increased per capita spending for electric programs, while…

As we continue to look for solutions to the climate crisis, one opportunity is hidden in plain sight: decarbonization through building energy codes. Buildings make up approximately 40 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions and advancing building codes to address decarbonization could be an extremely important piece of the emissions reduction puzzle. Let’s break down some examples in the…

My husband and I are proud New England home owners. This means that our house, like many in the area, is old and leaks like a sieve. Every summer, for the last four years, we painstakingly lugged our window a/c units from our basement to our second floor bedrooms and back to basement at the end of the summer. In both these trips, we make promises to ourselves and each other to look into whole…