Turning Policy into Performance: Measuring Equity to Achieve Restorative Justice

Among the excellent sessions at the NEEP Air Source Heat Pump workshop was a presentation by Peter McPhee, Director of Clean Heating and Cooling for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). The MassCEC has run a program to support Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology since May 2017. VRF is a type of air source heat pump that can serve many commercial building types and larger…

There is a broad array of heating and cooling system types available in the market that can effectively either decarbonize or electrify (with an increasingly decarbonized grid) building space heating. Some of the newer ones, at least for the U.S. market, were discussed at the NEEP air source heat pump workshop. In addition to discussing ductless and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat pumps,…

With a population of just under 8,000 people, Montpelier, Vermont is the smallest state capital in the United States. It's a small town with big-city amenities - a lively arts and music scene, great restaurants, excellent schools, and an active community life. The city’s approach to energy and sustainability is no different. The community in Montpelier recently came together during Town Meeting…

In December 2017, NEEP published a revised edition of the Model Progressive Building Energy Codes Policy paper, or as we like to call it, our “energy code bible”. The latest version – a new Building Energy Codes for a Carbon-Constrained Era: A Toolkit of Strategies and Examples paper is divided into two sections. The first is a “how-to” advance building energy code development and adoption to…

Communities – whether at the state or jurisdictional level – are stepping up and taking their energy future into their own hands. And, in discussions about the energy future of communities, there’s also talk around reaching carbon reduction and resiliency goals. Communities are exercising their power and autonomy in making their goals a reality. Sounds simple, but it really isn’t. There’s no “…

It was a bright sunny day in Providence, Rhode Island and a cool breeze was blowing through the large sliding glass doors as people from various government departments, utilities, energy service companies, consulting firms, and energy efficiency advocate groups poured in for NEEP’s annual public meeting – Stellar EM&V. The meeting, which focused on evaluation, measurement, and verification,…

Retrofitting homes and buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a big but necessary task for Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States and cities committed to climate stabilization goals. While significant gains have been made in building new homes and buildings to zero energy or passive house design standards, fixing our existing building stock to minimize greenhouse gas emissions is quite…

Natural gas creates carbon dioxide when we burn it to heat buildings and water. But it also leaks methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere when it does not make it all the way to our furnaces and water heaters. Older natural gas lines are more likely to leak. Sometimes the leaks get to explosive levels and make the evening news, but on a regular basis there are smaller…

As I expected, my water heater finally sprung a leak. The water heater was here when I bought my home almost 25 years ago, and it looked old then. The plumber who put in the new one said he had only ever seen two other water heaters this old, and thought it might even be original to the house, i.e. installed in 1965. I have been expecting it to fail for 25 years. It finally did. Yes, it was gas…

In 2018, NEEP developed an Action Plan to Accelerate Strategic Electrification in the Northeast. The plan came out of an extensive process that included an ongoing steering committee, the production of a regional resource assessment, and a two day conference with over 100 people. At the technology level, the plan included both electric vehicles as well as building decarbonization. At the policy…