Zero Energy

On January 25, 2019, NEEP held its first Massachusetts Achieving Zero Energy (MAZE) stakeholders meeting. As an intern who’d just started that same week, I was excited and curious to hear the subject matter and how people from various professional backgrounds thought of the topic.

Building energy codes are a critical piece of the puzzle in the fight against climate change. Carbon emissions reduction plans must include energy codes that are regularly updated in order to effectively fight climate change.

Renewable energy, like solar and wind, are popular and effective energy sources that will drastically reduce our carbon emissions. They are buzzwords that fill our social media feeds and are sexy alternatives to coal and oil. They also remind us that a world beyond fossil fuels is achievable. But what about energy efficiency?

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.

Working in the field of energy efficiency, there are days when it’s hard to see or feel the exact impact of our work. Last week was different, though. It was a great reminder that the work we do matters and that we are making a big impact, especially in learning environments.  

When my husband Tom and I decided to build our home in Salisbury, Massachusetts, we knew that a super-efficient, even “zero energy” home was the goal. We worked with Brightbuilt Home to design a modular, all-electric home that was modeled to use about as much energy as the 8.83 kW solar array generates over the course of a year. This November, it will have been two years since we moved into the house.