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…
By neepenergy |
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…
By neepenergy |
NEEP along with many of its Sponsoring organizations, were recently recognized for its a collaborative work accelerating energy efficiency through the promotion of ENERGY STAR products. Our Sponsors are energy efficiency program administrators and electric and gas utilities. When it comes to our work here at NEEP, all of these companies participate for the same reasons: to…
By neepenergy |
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…
By Josh Craft |
March means that we are reaching a critical time in the year for energy efficiency policy, particularly in state legislatures. This week’s Policy Tracker lists some of the policy areas that NEEP has been engaged on over the last few months.
Recent NEEP Policy Work: Oil Heat Energy Efficiency Programs, Building Energy Rating policies in Connecticut and Maine, Energy Codes Advocacy, and…
By Allison Webster |
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…
By dlenergyefficiency |
You may be surprised to hear that Distribution Transformers (which include the round barrel-looking devices on telephone poles) offer significant energy savings opportunities. Although most transformers are quite efficient (efficiencies over 98%), the sheer volume of these deployed throughout the country mean even small improvements can result in big savings.
A few weeks ago, DOE…
By Jim OReilly |
In a Feb. 5 cover story of the Boston Globe Magazine, Neil Swidey’s “What if the Lights Go Out?” paints a bleak picture of the state of our regional electric grid. And all of his reasons are quite valid: we are overly-reliant on natural gas fired electricity generation; we have an aging electricity and natural gas infrastructure that is vulnerable to failures on its own and attacks from those…
By neepenergy |
City Hall Annex - Cambridge's first high performance municipal building Photo: City of Cambridge and Blind Dog Photo, Inc.
Naturally, I waited until the last possible day of the year to apply for my resident parking permit at the City Hall Annex in Cambridge, Mass. When I entered the lobby, the line of permit-seekers was at least a hundred people deep, winding around the entire first…
By neepenergy |
In a recent blog post, Penni McLean-Conner of NSTAR, highlighted the tremendous innovation spurred on by the new EISA standards enacted on January 1. The standards have truly brought about the biggest evolution in the lighting industry since Edison was around. Some of this change has not been so welcomed. In her post Conner explains,
“Another important change brought about by…