Electric vehicles

I have been lucky enough to attend the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) Annual Meeting, this year held in New Orleans. This has been a great opportunity for a couple of reasons. Professionally, I’ve been able to network with different stakeholders across the country. Personally, I took advantage of the opportunity to dive right into the NOLA experience with my first beignet and Sazerac cocktail. 

Is using electricity almost exclusively for all energy needs – such as transportation, home heating and industry uses – really a key part of the global warming solution? Well, it absolutely is. Of course it’s critical to decarbonize the grid with wind and solar and other renewables as part of the process, but dramatically shifting energy uses to electricity, while also making them more efficient, is indeed a key part of deep carbon reduction.

It is with mixed emotions that I write this blog to bid adieu to one of the hallmarks of energy efficiency, residential lighting. While homes across the region and nation still have inefficient lighting technologies installed, the market transformation path for this measure is all but inevitable, and the need for NEEP’s continued thought leadership has ended.

As 2013 nears its end, important work on energy efficiency policy and programs is still on going. Below are the important proceedings that NEEP is keeping an eye on.