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.

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 ownership category makes decisions very differently from the others. Some commercial buildings are incredibly complex, some buildings are cookie cutter simple and repetitive.

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.

We all know the decarbonization is the big goal. It’s in the news, reports, and policy discussions.

In baseball, the ace is a team’s superstar starting pitcher – a dominant and reliable player that takes the mound every five games. In poker, an ace is the highest ranking card and cause for optimism when dealt your way. On NEEP’s Buildings and Communities Solutions Team, ACE is an exciting new project that will help transform energy efficiency initiatives in communities.

Interested in learning more? Check out these top seven things to know about the project.

What does it stand for?

It’s simple, ACE stands for Achieving Community Efficiency.

We have figured out the puzzle pieces that need to come together to decarbonize our economy and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Renewable energy + deep energy efficiency + strategic electrification = the pathways to zero carbon.