Green Communities Act

As school starts back up, students are returning to their academic routines and teachers are setting plans for the year. Similarly, a few states in New England have the utilities going through their three-year planning process for energy efficiency. Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts planning sessions are in full swing, and thus far, they get an A+ effort. There’s always room for growth, though.

Massachusetts, you’ve done it again! Today, the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE) announced that it has selected the Bay State as the most energy efficient in the nation – this marks the fifth year Massachusetts has topped the charts for national energy efficiency policy and practice.

• CLICK HERE to access a March 2015 webinar recording featuring LED Street Lighting Conversion Strategies, feauturing a case study of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Energy efficiency policy work doesn’t always make for great conversation at dinner parties. Energy efficiency represents energy and money not wasted, so it’s less tangible than new solar panels or a natural gas well. And much of NEEP’s work is behind the scenes, spread across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states in regulatory proceedings that can be hard to follow, on topics that may not, on the surface, sound very interesting. The energy efficiency policies we follow certainly haven’t captured media attention the way that the future of the Keystone XL pipeline has.

Unless Massachusetts communities push to update the state’s Stretch Code before July 1, 2014, the 20% boost in building energy efficiency it provides will evaporate, creating market confusion and violate the very concept behind its inception.