Disinformation on Boston’s Building Energy Disclosure Ordinance continues – The Boston Globe needs a fact check when discerning building energy rating and disclosure’ fact from fiction.
NEEP’s Jim O’Reilly wrote a response to the Boston Globe’s article, Boston Energy, Water Use Law Approved, to set the record straight on Boston’s Building Energy Disclosure Ordinance. Continue reading
In a 9-4 vote, the Boston City Council voted today to adopt energy benchmarking for its large buildings. NEEP congratulates Mayor Thomas Menino and the Council for their hard work to advance this landmark energy and environmental initiative. By enacting Docket #726, Boston will become the first city in New England and the eight nationwide to provide for energy transparency in their buildings. Continue reading
Testifying in front of the Boston City Hall Council is a lot like speed dating – at least from what I know of speed dating. I’ve never had the occasion or desire to try speed dating, but after appearing before the Council recently, I think I now have a good idea of what it might be like.
Last week I submitted written testimony and on Thursday had the opportunity – one entire minute – to stand before Chairman Matt O’Malley of the Council’s Government Operations Committee to tell him why the proposed Building Energy Reporting Ordinance would be an energy, economic and environmental policy win for the city of Boston. Continue reading
The multifamily workshop at the ACEEE Market Transformation Symposium in Washington, D.C., attracted a large crowd of people wanting to join the conversation about innovative policies and programs in the multifamily housing sector. This event represented a prime example that the power of collaboration and conversation hold for the advancement of energy efficiency.
Presentations by Peter Ludwig and Rick Samson depicted the full-circle status of the U.S. multifamily market that uncovered connections between market 
characteristics, market barriers and market outlook. Rick and Peter both view multifamily efficiency from different viewpoints but face similar barriers and have the same goal at the end of their tunnels: multifamily energy efficiency market transformation. Ed Londergan, NEEP’s Multifamily Project Manager, moderated the session and provided his extensive multifamily experiences and leadership to the foundation of the conversation. Continue reading
Posted in Buildings
Tagged ACEEE Symposium, Energy Efficiency, Market Barriers, market transformation, Multifamily
This edition of the Policy Tracker finds us right in the middle of legislative sessions in the Northeast states. Over the past monthly, NEEP has been engaged in a number of important policy discussions, including on the future of combined heat and power, oil heat energy efficiency programs, If you have questions or would like more information, please send a note to me at jcraft@neep.org.
Regional Industrial Energy Efficiency Dialogue
NEEP helped lead the Department of Energy’s recent Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional Dialogue on Industrial Energy Efficiency in Baltimore on March 12th. Policymakers, utility representatives, and academic experts discussed the potential benefits that expanded combined heat and power (CHP) capacity and barriers and policy drivers would bring. NEEP’s Sue Coakley moderated a panel to discuss successes with CHP in states throughout our region. We were pleased to have excellent speakers from Northeast Utilities, NYSERDA, National Grid, Sikorsky Aircraft, UMass Medical School, and the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER). Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Barbara Kates-Garnick delivered a keynote address. For more information, see DOE’s new “Guide to the Successful Implementation of State Combined Heat and Power Policies.”
Posted in Best Practices, Buildings, Policy News
A great dialogue continues here in Baltimore on accelerating industrial energy efficiency and combined heat and power (CHP) in the region.
Not only do public policies need to provide a solid framework that allows for CHP to be broadly deployed, but champions among end users really need to drive projects and help other stakeholders understand their value propositions.
Those points were driven home particularly by John Baker, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, as well as speakers from New Jersey and New York, including Brian Platt of NYSERDA, Mike Winka, director of the Office of Clean Energy in New Jersey, and Steven Goldenberg, chief counsel to the New Jersey Large Energy Users Coalition. Continue reading
Posted in Best Practices, Buildings, Policy News
Tagged Buildings, efficiency policy, Energy Policy
To help set the table for the U.S. DOE and NEEP co-hosted dialogue on advancing industrial energy efficiency and CHP, NEEP’s Sue Coakley is moderating a discussion on ‘Opportunities and Successes.’ She started this dialogue by showing a video from NEEP’s 2012 Energy Efficiency Summit in Stamford, Conn. that highlighted Sikorsky Aircraft and the energy efficiency and CHP investments they’ve made to their Stratford plant. With support from United Illuminating, Sikorsky is aiming to make their facility zero net energy with the help of an innovative co-generation unit. And with support from the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund, the payback period for Sikorsky’s measures has been dropped to under four years.
Showing that best practices are not limited to New England, Jim Freihaut, director of the Mid-Atlantic Clean Energy Application Center at Penn State University, highlighted Proctor and Gamble’s Mehoopany, PA paper products plant, which has saved so much energy with its CHP application, that the company has closed plants in other states and moved those jobs to Pennsylvania. Continue reading
Posted in Best Practices, Buildings, Policy News
Tagged Buildings, Energy Efficiency, Energy Policy, industrial efficiency
Good morning from Baltimore, where the U.S. Department of Energy and NEEP have just kicked off our Regional Dialogue on Accelerating Industrial Energy Efficiency and Combined Heat and Power (CHP). This meeting is being held to advance the development and implementation of state-level best practices in both public policies and investment models that address the barriers to greater investments in industrial efficiency and CHP in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.
Jason Miller, of the National Economic Council and a Special Assistant to President Obama for Manufacturing Policy, welcomed the 160+ participants here in Baltimore by highlighting the President’s Executive Order that sets a national goal of 40 gigawatts of new, cost-effective CHP by 2020. In noting that a revitalized manufacturing sector is a core element of the administration’s economic development agenda, Miller noted the importance of accelerating efficiency and CHP in this sector because “Energy is intertwined with competitiveness. Continue reading
Posted in Best Practices, Buildings, Policy News, Uncategorized
Tagged Buildings, DOE, energy efficiency policy
Energy was high at NEEP’s Multi-Family Regional Leadership Group meeting, held February 27 in the “Civil Action” Court Room at EPA Region One’s Federal McCormack Building and via webinar. Stakeholders from Maine to Pennsylvania to Washington State came together to learn and share knowledge about multi-family energy efficiency opportunities and barriers. Speakers included Efficiency Maine Trust’s Rick Meinking, HR&A Advisor’s Candace Damon, and NYSERDA’s Mike Colgrove. It didn’t end there though.
Break-out sessions on Building Energy Rating, Market Barriers, and Funding and Financing encouraged discussion and brainstorming, which were shared with the rest of the 58 attendees. Dave Carey of Harcourt Brown & Carey Energy & Finance, for example, developed a great visualization that showed us what financing was available and to whom. MIT’s Alex Marks explained the benefits of building energy rating and disclosure, sharing the Peter Drucker quote, “things that are measured, are improved.”
On February 22, the Boston Globe published an article on Boston’s new building energy disclosure ordinance. Here is NEEP’s response, submitted as a letter to the editor:
“We, at NEEP, were delighted to see the article regarding Mayor Menino’s proposed building energy reporting ordinance [Menino takes on Boston buildings' energy use, 2.22.2013] featured on the front page of the Globe. We couldn’t agree more with the mayor’s commitment to high performance buildings and building energy disclosure as a means to tackle aggressive energy and GHG reduction goals. This law is a huge win for everyone and will make Boston’s real estate portfolio even more attractive and lucrative to investors. Continue reading
University of Vermont is one of 12 higher education institutions in the state investing millions in energy efficiency.
How far will $16 million dollars go to create green college campuses in the Green Mountain State? A lot further than you think. Recently, twelve of Vermont’s most prominent institutions of higher education pledged more than $16 million to green revolving funds, and they are using this money to make major improvements in energy efficiency – with an impact far greater than their initial investment. [More]
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