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Illuminating the SSL Industry, 2013 DLC Stakeholder Meeting
Posted in Products
Tagged CFL, design lights consotrium, high efficiency lighting, LED, SSL
March Public Policy Tracker: Regional CHP Dialogue, Oil Heat Efficiency Legislation & More
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
Imitating Energy Efficiency Successes, 2013 NEEP Business Leaders
What do the manufacturer of the Blackhawk helicopter, a community center and a medical school campus have in common? All of them were honored at the 2012 Northeast Energy Efficiency Summit as State Champions of the annual Business Leaders for Energy Efficiency program. Every year, NEEP invites its utility sponsors to nominate business customers throughout the region that show leadership in adopting and implementing efficiency strategies.
Regardless of budgets, business models, market placement, or provided services, energy is needed to power business across all sectors. Whether its lighting controls, combined heat and power systems or supply chain improvements, the high rates of return and significant energy savings are catching the eye of energy managers and CEOs alike. To these businesses the investment they put into efficiency measures means reduced emissions, job creation, increased productivity and for some, the ability to keep business in the U.S. in an increasingly competitive global market. The bottom line is that efficiency makes good business sense and the businesses NEEP highlights are proof of that.
More from Baltimore: Taking down the barriers, accelerating the drivers to CHP
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
Opportunities and Successes in Industrial Energy Efficiency and CHP
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
Dialogue on Industrial Efficiency and CHP Kicks Off in Baltimore
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
New kids on the block, younger workforce entering energy efficiency
With changes to the political, social, and economic undercurrents of our society, the landscape of energy efficiency is constantly shifting. The industry is now largely recognized for its demand-side solution to conserve energy, save natural and financial resources, and build career opportunities. The numbers don’t lie; energy efficiency is by far the most cost-effective energy solution out there and the region’s demand for energy is flattening out as more energy efficiency practices take hold. These positive aspects of energy efficiency have caught the eyes of recent college graduates who see the energy efficiency industry as promising, innovative, and full of opportunity.
Like many of today’s hot industries, energy efficiency companies seek young professionals with diverse backgrounds and skill sets. Degrees in engineering, marketing, political science, economics, and public policy, to name a few, are good stepping stones for breaking into the efficiency industry. NEEP, and other organizations like it, have given young professionals the opportunity to branch out and find their passion within energy efficiency. A quick search of current job opportunities reveals positions in research, marketing and product development – the list goes on but it’s clear that there’s something for everyone. Continue reading
Posted in NEEP Summit 2013
Tagged Energy, Energy Efficiency, market transformation, NEEP Summit, Northeast, Student Scholarship
Hanging with the Grassroots, and Promoting Oilheat Efficiency in Massachusetts
We at NEEP spend most of our time in a pretty wonky universe. We work to advance energy efficiency policies and programs, but rarely do we get the chance to talk directly to “real people.” That is why it was so refreshing to attend the Local Environmental Action Conference over the weekend at Northeastern University in Boston.
Josh Craft of NEEP (center) spoke to a packed house about energy efficiency. He was joined on the Clean Energy panel by energy and climate expert Marc Breslow and Danielle Falzon of Environment Massachusetts.
Posted in Best Practices, Policy News
NEEP Launches Regional Energy Efficiency Database (REED)
NEEP is pleased to announce the public launch of the Regional Energy Efficiency Database (REED), a product of the Regional Evaluation, Measurement & Verification (EM&V) Forum. First previewed and enthusiastically received at the EM&V Forum’s 2012 Annual Public Meeting, REED includes 2011 electric and gas energy efficiency program data for 8 states: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Energy efficiency stakeholders across the region can now use the REED data to conduct analyses of efficiency program and policy design, assist with air quality reporting, inform system planning, and compare energy efficiency impacts across states. NEEP will add 2012 energy efficiency data from the 8 participating states along with Delaware and the District of Columbia in fall 2013. Continue reading
The 2013 NEEP Summit is Set for Launch
The Northeast Energy Efficiency Summit is rapidly approaching and all of us here at NEEP could not be more excited! The Northeast Energy Efficiency Summit is NEEP’s signature event and gives policy makers, program administrators, members of the business community, and other stakeholders to efficiency an opportunity to come together to discuss challenges and successes facing the full deployment of energy efficiency across the Northeast region.
The Summit is set for the June 18-19th at the Sheraton Hotel in Springfield, MA. These two days will be packed with interactive educational opportunities, profiles of leaders in energy efficiency, efficiency workshops, and will act as a gathering spot for energy efficiency professionals from around the region.
Here is a glance into prior NEEP Northeast Energy Efficiency Summits.
Posted in NEEP Summit 2013
Tagged best practices, Energy Efficiency, market transformation, NEEP Summit, Northeast
