Seth Bauer, VP TopTen USA

Connecticut retailers are eager to turn high efficiency into higher sales, and are willing to try new approaches to that end. That’s the conclusion reached by Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating after seeing the quick response by retailers who were invited to promote the TopTen USA rankings of product efficiency. The interest helps validate the state’s willingness to be out front in utilizing the relatively new, independent rankings.

“This was a project I was eager to get behind from the beginning. Now that we are seeing such a positive, early response from both consumers and local retailers, I am even more encouraged,” said Ron Araujo, Manager, Conservation & Load Management, CL&P/Yankee Gas.

CL&P’s Jesus Pernia and UI’s Diane Damino oversaw the February outreach to retailers, which consisted of a PDF describing the TopTen concept followed by APT staff outreach.  Within weeks, roughly 40 independent retailers had responded, along with large chains including Sears and PC Richard & Sons. Retailers were invited to have their store information listed on Connecticut’s customized version of the TopTen USA website. As TopTen updates its rankings, retailers will know which products have risen to the top. And the site is programmed so that Connecticut users automatically see the custom versionConnecticut retailers who keep electronic inventories of products they sell can sign up (at no cost) for an additional service which TopTen provides in conjunction with an EBay subsidiary: Zip Code-based local retailer search. Users can go to the Connecticut site, enter their Zip Codes, and see which merchants carry a particular product nearby. And because Milo offers its local search elsewhere on the Web, those retailers increase their visibility to the wider Web community, too.

With the retail community showing interest in the rankings of high-efficiency products, CL&P and UI are now starting to look at consumer engagement.  Ellen Rosenthal of CL&P has plans to promote the custom site as part of many types of outreach.  And the prospect has Chris Ehlert of UI considering the options for incentives and reminiscing about the days when energy efficiency was first introduced as an important part of a consumer’s decision-making process. “People got excited about it,” he says. “And they will be excited about this, too.”

As a magazine editor in chief, Seth Bauer has been bringing a healthy green message to consumers for years. He was Vice President and Editorial Director for National Geographic’s Green Guide and thegreenguide.com. Prior to that, Bauer served as editor in chief of Body & Soul magazine, which was sold to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Bauer is also a former Olympic athlete and a world champion in the sport of rowing. After graduating from Yale, he competed as a coxswain in five world championships and in the 1988 Olympics, guiding the U.S. men’s eight to a bronze medal.

On April 18, the Forum released an RFP for the HVAC VSD Loadshape project. The selected contractor will conduct onsite measurement of VSD controlled HVAC equipment and perform site-specific analysis of VSD hourly savings to develop annual measure savings load shapes and associated factors that can be used by Forum members.  Proposals are due on May 8.  The project is the third study the Forum has conducted to develop load shapes for efficiency measures based on results from new and or existing metering data – the other completed studies focused on Unitary HVAC and Commercial Lighting.

The Forum recently selected a team led by The Cadmus Group as the contractor for its Estimating Building Energy Code Savings Attributable to Energy Efficiency Programs project, and kicked-off the project with an Advisory Committee meeting on April 24. The project is funded by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE).  Results of the project will advance knowledge on how to capture and account for energy efficiency benefits available from policies and utility program activities that advance residential and commercial building energy codes, recommend next steps to help capture energy efficiency benefits from codes, and encourage quality and consistency in EM&V approaches to account for energy efficiency benefits.

Regional Energy Efficiency Database Moving Forward

Along with launching these new projects, the Forum is also in the process of modifying its Regional Energy Efficiency Database (REED) set to launch in Fall 2012.  Currently in development, REED will be an online tool, available to the public, that will allow states to access energy efficiency data, readily use the energy efficiency reporting guidelines’ reporting tables, and view resulting comprehensive reports. We are currently coordinating with Independent Systems Operators-New England (ISO-NE)’s data collection so that energy efficiency data available in the REED is consistent with data used to inform long term energy efficiency forecasts. With this modification, the New England states will report energy efficiency program impacts to ISO-NE directly, which NEEP will be able to import directly into REED.   Eric Winkler from ISO-NE presented at the April 13 Restructuring Roundtable on ISO-NE’s incorporation of energy efficiency into its long term forecasting efforts, in which he touched on this important coordination between ISO-NE and the EM&V Forum’s REED.  For other Forum states, including NY, DE, MD and DC, energy efficiency data will be collected using a REED data collection tool currently in development by the project contractor, Peregrine Energy Group.

Find out more about these projects and our other current project on NEEP’s website, http://www.neep.org/emv-forum.

Secretary of Ed. Arne Duncan and students at Green Ribbon Schools Winners Announcement

On a morning visit to a DC school this Monday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the first ever winners of the Green Ribbon School Awards. Schools received Green Ribbons for implementing a strong, holistic approach to being “green” – these schools save energy, foster healthy school environments, and have strong environmental education programs.   Nineteen of the 78 winning schools came from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Amongst the winners were two schools built to Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) standards –Nathan Bishop Middle School in Rhode Island and Hampton Bays Middle School in New York.  CHPS provides criteria for designing and building new high performance schools as well as tools for improving existing schools, such as the Operations Report Card and the Northeast-CHPS Operations and Maintenance Guide.

Identifying these exemplar schools across the region sets a perfect stage for regional collaboration.  Sharing these success stories across communities and state lines will help put hundreds of more schools on the Green Ribbon track.  The coming months will be an important time to learn from these schools and gear up for next year’s competition.  States such as Pennsylvania are looking for ways to foster school-to-school education to do just this.  Pennsylvania had the highest number of Green Ribbon applicants and received four Green Ribbon awards.

Energy savings and lasagna gardens for all!

Quick tip from the Green Ribbon School files:
Schools can save energy, reduce waste, and promote health by incorporating special “days” into the week, such as:

• “Lights out” lunches
• Trash free Tuesday
• Walk to school Wednesday

Green Ribbon School Snapshots:

Nathan Bishop Middle School, Providence, RI

• 1920s Georgian Revival style building, was on the top of Providence Preservation Society’s “Most Endangered Properties” list; renovated to NE-CHPS standards in 2009
• 100% classrooms have access to views, day lighting strategies, and operable windows
• Designed to reduce energy use by  40% energy, and water use by 65%
• Has a 20,000 gallon rainwater collection system for toilet flushing

Hampton Bays Middle Schools, Hampton Bays, NY

•  The first NY-CHPS Verified school building, completed in 2008
• Built to perform 27% greater than energy code
• High Performance lighting systems to save the school $100,000/year
• Received a $300,000 rebate through Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to offset the incremental first cost of lighting system

State Senator Will Brownsberger

It’s easy for leaders to speak in platitudes about “going green.” It’s a lot harder to take a look at one’s own home and undertake a major renovation to save energy. Massachusetts State Senator Will Brownsberger of Belmont truly walks the talk. Brownsberger lists Clean Energy as the first long-term goal on his website. And in 2008, the Senator began the massive undertaking of a deep energy retrofit of his Belmont home.

“Deep energy retrofit” or “deep energy reduction” generally refers to actions that decrease energy consumption of a building by at least 50 percent. Brownsberger sought to qualify for the rigorous Thousand Homes Challenge (THC), a national program administered by Affordable Comfort, Inc. (ACI ), a national nonprofit focused on home performance and weatherization.  The THC requires that a qualifying home reduce its energy consumption by 70-90 percent. This aggressive target is achieved through a combination of energy efficiency, renewable resources, community-based solutions, and behavioral choices. The goal of the Challenge is to demonstrate that this level of residential retrofit — involving advanced residential building techniques and technologies — is possible, and to showcase early adopters.

In order to complete this complex project, Brownsberger recruited the assistance of National Grid, whose Deep Energy Retrofit program provided grants that covered roughly one third of the cost of the energy components of the renovation.

Before inception, the structure was classified as being in “poor” condition. The home, like many older New England homes, had an uninsulated attic, basement, and walls, outdated appliances, oil heat, drafty windows, etc. From this starting point, the home underwent an extensive retrofit, which involved focusing on the building enclosure, HVAC, renewables (installation of solar PV and a solar hot water heater), and a variety of other improvements and repairs.

The project was completed in fall 2009 and Brownsberger’s home became the sixth THC-qualified home in the country, and the first in Massachusetts! The end results are impressive. Energy consumption will be reduced by an estimated 74 percent. Energy use, energy costs, and CO₂ emissions per person were decreased to fractions of what’s typical for our region. The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) score dropped from 197 to 32. HERS is a measure of home energy efficiency — the lower the score the better.

A significant amount of upfront capital was required due to the significant amount of construction, labor, and technologically advanced materials required to complete the retrofit. The Brownsberger home project is pioneering and is truly at the vanguard of residential energy efficiency. Project costs for deep retrofits will fall over time, as knowledge and skills are disseminated, as related policies are strengthened, and as highly efficient building materials and appliances penetrate more into the mainstream.

Stay tuned for Part 2 — after I chat with the Senator about his project and the state of energy efficiency in Massachusetts!

The Brownsberger home in Belmont, Mass.

Further References on the Brownsberger Project

Penni McLean-Conner, Chief Customer Officer for Northeast Utilities

Utility energy efficiency programs have increased by more than 550 percent since 1999.  Concurrently, utility customer service is also expanding with innovative customer service offerings which enhance customer satisfaction and improve service delivery while managing costs. Utility executives agree these efforts are rapidly converging and the successful utilities will be the ones that can optimize the nexus of these programs.

The question is whether utilities are optimizing the natural nexus between the energy efficiency and customer service efforts.  A whitepaper by Oliver Wyman entitled ‘Is Energy Efficiency Losing Its Efficiency?’ notes that, “In many cases, energy efficiency programs are set up and run separately from the rest of a utility’s customer service efforts. As a result, efficient efforts often are not aligned with overall customer strategy and planning, business processes and or organizations, diminishing these programs’ overall effectiveness.”   Utilities interested in capitalizing on the natural nexus of customer service and energy efficiency should look specifically at customer communications, customer service transactions and customer data mining.

Customer Communications

Utilities have long recognized their unique position of being a trusted energy advisor to customers.  Hence utilities have long-tapped into energy efficiency as a source for content for outreach and communications.  Energy efficiency is prominently featured on utility websites, printed collateral and marketing.

New on the playing field are on-going customer engagement platforms that allow a utility to reinvent the way it interacts with customers.  The acceleration of energy efficiency programs and the advancement of the smart-metering infrastructure are fueling the development of these new engagement tools.  Examples of these include behavioral- based energy efficiency programs that proactively and regularly engage customers via a customized home energy report.  This report helps customers track and save on their energy bills.  Utilities with advanced metering infrastructures are opening ongoing communication and engagement with customers via portals where customers can view usage real time and be provided with information and programs to address their energy needs via the portal.

Customer Service Transactions

There are a variety of customer service transactions that provide a natural opportunity to promote energy efficiency.  A service turn-on request is an example.  For customers moving into new homes or apartments, this is a great time to promote energy audit programs and/or offer rebates.  Customers moving into new homes are often unaware of the energy usage. Additionally, these customers may be busy outfitting the home with new appliances.

Clearly the high bill call is an opportunity to promote energy efficient solutions.  But with the advent of advanced metering, some utilities are proactively monitoring customer usage and providing them with alerts on trends that are above expected levels.  This provides another opportunity to marry this customer service with energy efficiency offerings such as rebates or information about programs.

From an energy efficiency perspective, identifying new construction early is a great opportunity.  If a new building is built without the consideration of energy saving enhancements, the opportunity to serve that building again is lost for many years.  New construction projects are often on the radar screens of utility engineering and operations folks long before the building plans are finalized. These projects are great leads and opportunities for the energy efficiency team. The trick is to have a process to capture and follow up on these leads in a meaningful manner.   These types of transactions are handled in utility customer service or operations areas.

Customer Data Mining

Utility customer information systems (CIS) collect and maintain valuable customer transaction and usage data.  This data set is a gold mine to use in identifying customers and customer segments that are candidates for energy efficiency.  The behavioral-based energy efficiency programs which offer consumers home energy reports use a foundation of usage information from the utility’s CIS system.  As utilities try to tap into the huge savings opportunities in the commercial and industrial market, analyzed usage data along with customer data can identify not only customers to target but entire customer segments that are worthy of targeting.  For example, analysis of usage data stored in a utility’s CIS and energy efficiency participation data stored on the utility’s tracking system identified food service companies as being underserved by its energy efficiency programs. Yet this customer group represented a significant portion of the commercial market.  This insight allowed the utility to redesign program outreach to target the food service industry with programs and case studies appealing to that particular vertical.

Utilities are wise to understand the nexus of energy efficiency and customer service within their own operations.  While there are many great examples of the two areas being integrated, more opportunity abounds in customer communications, transaction management and data mining.

 Penni McLean-Conner is Chief Customer Officer for Northeast Utilities.  Penni has over 20 years in the utility business and is author of the book Customer Service: Utility Style and  Energy Efficiency: Principles and Practices. 

Throughout 2011, NEEP and its sponsors worked hard to promote energy efficiency and build the market for efficient lighting, electronics, and appliances. Collectively, these efforts reached over 15 million households in New England and New York.

As a result, the Initiative:

• worked cooperatively with a total of 4,039 retail partners including big-box do-it-yourself and membership warehouse chains, as well as food and drug outlets including pharmacies, hardware stores and key grocery chains in the region.
• helped enable many retail locations to offer CFL recycling at no cost to consumers.
• accelerated gains in accessibility of products in all four appliance product categories, achieving a record high amount of ENERGY STAR appliances available in regional market channels.  

The work of the Initiative last year, will achieve over 5 million MWh in lifetime energy saving and over 3.86 million tons in greenhouse gas emissions reductions.  Simply put, these achievements are not possible by individual organizations.  Especially in the Northeast when many individual states make up our region, partnerships are vital to obtaining the savings through energy efficiency that are possible.  The Retail Products Initiative is proof that our whole work in energy efficiency is greater than the sum of its parts for the businesses and communities of the Northeast.

Bill Ravanesi, Healthcare Without Harm

Bill Ravenisi of the global organization, Healthcare without Harm, was recently featured in a special to Banker and Tradesman highlighting what the Green Communities Act means to healthcare in MA.  In his aritcle, “Green Communities Act Means a Healthier Massachusetts”, he explains how the Green Communities Act helps health care facilities—and everyone else in Massachusetts—use energy more efficiently which allows health care leaders to dwell less on energy costs and focus more on curing the sick and keeping people healthy.

The U.S. Department of Energy says hospital energy costs are rising—soaring by 56 percent in 2008, for example—and will continue to rise.  The GCA is an example of a proactive legislative response to the rising energy costs.  According to the state’s electricity report released last year,  it is projected that every $1.10 of GCA investments will result in $2.50 in customer benefits.  This is more than double the investment being returned to Massachusetts communities.

The GCA requires15 percent of Massachusetts’ electricity to be supplied by new renewable power sources by 2020.  Ravanesi notes that “developing local energy sources here in New England is of particular interest,  where we don’t have oil, coal, or natural gas fields of our own. This provision makes Massachusetts a magnet for clean energy innovators, while spurring development of homegrown sources of clean, renewable energy,” Ravanesi writes.

Beyond the legislation, the GCA is fundamentally about creating healthy communities, a vibrant economy, and maintaining Massachusetts’ leadership role in the clean energy front.  “Just as doctors have an obligation to do no harm to their patients, hospitals have an obligation to do no harm to the communities they serve,”writes Ravanesi.

Bill Ravanesi MA, MPH is Boston Regional Director of Health Care Without Harm, a Massachusetts-founded coalition of more than 450 health-related organizations working to transform the health care sector, without compromising patient safety or care, to be more ecologically sustainable.

The original op-ed piece can be obtained by Banker & Tradesman, here: http://www.bankerandtradesman.com/news149133.html?Type=search.

Recent NEEP Policy Work: Oil Heat Energy Efficiency Programs, Building Energy Rating policies in Connecticut and Maine, Energy Codes Advocacy, and Connecticut’s 2012 Integrated Resources Plan (IRP).

Other Notable Policy Developments: Maine Bill LD 1864, Pennsylvania Energy Efficiency Program Extension, and New Jersey RGGI bills.

Worth Reading: ASAP “Efficiency Boom” report, Deutsche Bank Climate Advisers on U.S. Building Retrofit Opportunities, and Environment America on building energy efficiency as a key to reducing carbon emissions.

For the full version, see NEEP’s Policy Tracker page.

Buildings are our nation’s biggest energy guzzlers, using 40% of our energy and 70% of our electricity.

As the nation makes strides to improve the energy performance of its building stock, one effective method of doing this is with building energy codes. Building energy codes play a central role in creating a sustainable energy future by significantly reducing building energy use and ensuring safe and affordable dwellings for its businesses and citizens.

NEEP has had the opportunity to work throughout the region on the advancement of building energy codes and, over the past few years, we’ve been pleased to support seven states that have moved forward by adopting or updating their building energy codes. Unfortunately one state lags behind and thanks to ill-conceived legislation passed last year, Maine is the only state in the region moving backward on statewide building and energy codes.

In June 2011, Maine’s Governor Paul LePage signed LD 1416 into law, effectively gutting the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) and ignoring a need for consistent statewide building regulation. That means communities across the state can regulate the construction of buildings as much –or as little- as they choose. The safety and energy efficiency of a building could depend on which community you live in.

Today communities under 4,000 are forced to opt-in to MUBEC and carry the added burden of local code enforcement and administration. MUBEC is a comprehensive set of codes designed to protect the safety and health of its citizens…it also protects their wallets. MUBEC matters to Maine because it reduces costs to consumers by ensuring buildings meet minimum standards for safe, healthy, energy-efficient construction; MUBEC also reduces building energy costs and the state’s dependence on heating oil. It is unacceptable that close to half of Maine’s population is not protected under MUBEC.

To raise awareness about the value of statewide building energy codes and to help promote local adoption of MUBEC, NEEP and Consumers Union have partnered with Maine organizations (such as NRCM, GrowSmart, and Cool Communities) to create the MUBEC Community Action Toolkit.

The MUBEC Community Action Toolkit was designed specifically for citizens of Maine who believe in their right to a safe, affordable, and comfortable home. Not only does the toolkit help raise awareness about the benefits of MUBEC, but it equips and empowers individuals with the tools they need to lead a successful grassroots campaign in support of MUBEC adoption in their community. The toolkit contains printable handouts on the value of MUBEC, a template power point presentation to raise awareness on MUBEC for use at local events and special town meetings, model ordinance language for a smooth adoption process, and even a template press release for sharing your town’s success upon adoption. The Toolkit also includes testimony from local businesses, citizens, and policymakers in support of MUBEC as well as an FAQ of frequently asked questions about MUBEC and debunks common code misconceptions.

With spring town meetings just around the corner, we hope the MUBEC Community Action Toolkit will help small communities adopt MUBEC and generate the needed momentum to re-enact MUBEC as Maine’s statewide uniform building energy code. North Yarmouth and Monmouth have already adopted MUBEC locally. Who will be next? Download the MUBEC Community Action Toolkit today and learn about the importance of building energy codes and how to make the case for safe, comfortable, and affordable buildings.

A few weeks ago, DOE published proposed efficiency standards for Distribution Transformers (This product class is made up of 3 categories of transformers; Medium-voltage liquid-immersed, Medium-voltage dry-type, Low voltage dry-type).

Besides the document containing surprising errors and misrepresentations, the proposed levels selected by the Department fell at the very low end of the levels considered.  The 30-year savings at the proposed levels are estimated at 50 TWh and $3.7 billion, nationally. Standards at the levels suggested by advocates and manufacturers would produce 4X the savings or 200 TWh and $14 billion over 30 years.

In their proposal, the Department repeatedly pointed to the uncertainty about the availability and price of amorphous steel as their justification for selecting the low standard levels.  Not only do the economics for consumers (electric utilities, in this case) support higher levels, but the manufacturers of transformers have stated their confidence in securing the needed materials to make far more aggressive standard levels appropriate.

ASAP, ACEEE, NRDC, and Earthjustice issued a joint press release calling out DOE for the weak standards and the overemphasis on ‘unsubstantiated fears’ about the steel.

Fortunately, this rulemaking is not yet at its final stage.  With strong support for higher levels, the DOE can change their proposal to reflect our regions interest in cost effective energy savings.

DOE will be holding a public hearing on their proposed rule on February 23rd.  NEEP plans to attend remotely by webinar and provide written feedback to the Department.