State Activity

Maine

NEEP participated in a meeting of the Maine High Performance Schools Working Group which is comprised of members of the Maine Department of Education, Efficiency Maine, Maine School Management Association and the Lung Association. At the meeting, NEEP provided an overview of high performance schools in the region and summarized the recent New Hampshire High Performance Schools Conference. The group discussed planning a Maine specific High Performance Schools Conference that would feature the Northeast Collaborative for High Performance Schools Protocol (Northeast CHPS).  
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New Hampshire

NEEP participated in a one day Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) workshop that focused on how municipal and school buildings can track energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA discussed the New England Community Energy Challenge and NEEP provided an overview on Northeast CHPS.

Rhode Island

NEEP facilitated a meeting with the Rhode Island High Performance Schools Working Group to plan four upcoming workshops. The workshops are targeted towards school business officials and facilities managers and will take place over the course of the next year. The first two workshops will focus on energy in schools, how to read and understand your utility bills and the programs and incentives available for communities.  

Acting as the Circuit Rider for the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, NEEP continued to work with Newport Architectural Collaborative and the Compass School to incorporate Northeast CHPS into the design process.  

Vermont

Throughout the fourth quarter, NEEP continued to assist the Vermont High Performance Schools Working Group plan outreach strategies and include the Northeast-CHPS Protocol in upcoming Vermont schools conferences including the Better Buildings by Design Conference that will take place in February 2008.

Regional Activity

In partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton, contractor for the Department of Energy (DOE), NEEP facilitated a survey of the regional high performance schools working group on avenues the DOE can use to finance high performance schools. Through the EnergySmart Web site, the DOE is trying to provide links to regional, state and local resources that s make it more feasible to design and construct a high performance school. Beyond simply "linking" schools to member’s programs and resources (such as the NEEP site), they would also like to highlight creative mechanisms schools have used to finance high performance schools, with the hopes of replicating these successes in other parts of the country. As a result, NEEP collected information from the group that included the financial barriers communities face when trying to build or renovate new schools along with suggestions on ways the DOE can help like providing assistance for renewable technology.

National Activity

NEEP participated in several National CHPS conference calls to develop a second strategic planning session that will take place in January 2008 in Sacramento, California. Current CHPS license holders and California CHPS board members will convene for the two day meeting to discuss the structure of National CHPS.

At the invitation of the American Architectural Foundation (AAF), NEEP took part in a two day green schools design forum in Washington DC. The AAF, through the Great Schools by Design program, and the U.S. Green Building Council organized this meeting to discuss how  federal agencies and non-profit organizations can work together and lead the way in creating a national agenda that will encourage states to build high performance, green K-12 schools that are healthy, energy-efficient and designed to maximize student performance. As part of its participation in the forum, NEEP gave an overview of the Northeast High Performance Schools Exchange, an overview of regional activity and provided suggestions on how the Exchange could be replicated in other parts of the county.

Outreach Activity

NEEP continued to partner with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region One office and National Grid to provide green schools outreach services to the Shore Country Day School in Beverly, Mass. NEEP took part in a full day HVAC building audit conducted by a contractor for National Grid. Once the audit report is finalized NEEP will take part in a planning session to provide suggestions on improvements to the school’s HVAC systems as well as other green building measures that will be built into the school’s operations and maintenance plan and strategic master plan.

Advanced Buildings Coalition

NEEP attended the first meeting of the Advanced Buildings Coalition (ABCoalition) on October 24. This is a new coalition formed by several groups that have typically opposed efficiency improvement to the model energy codes. The ABCoalition aims to provide input into the proposals submitted to the International Code Council (ICC) meeting in Palm Springs. Despite the historic opposition of most of the panelists to increasing energy efficiency, there was an apparent acceptance of the inevitability of a more energy efficient IECC (except, of course, from the representative from the National Association of Home Builders). The discussion centered on the best approaches to meeting energy efficiency goals. A second meeting is scheduled for January 8, 2008 in Dallas.

Code Proposals

NEEP organized several groups to comment at a public hearing in Massachusetts on November 6 that took up the newly proposed commercial energy code held by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS). NEEP facilitated the formation of a group of advocates, provided background information and helped develop the messages that the different groups delivered at the meeting. The group consisted of NEEP, Environment Northeast, Environment Massachusetts, the Boston Society of Architects, the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and the Conservation Law Foundation. The key message point was to encourage the BBRS to adopt the most advanced set of standards, ASHRAE 90.1-2007. At the hearing both NEEP and Charlie Harak of the NCLC spoke in support of this position. This group will continue working as new opportunities for advocacy arise.

Codes language was included in the omnibus energy bill that was passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in December. The language would require the BBRS to adopt the latest version of the IECC every three years. It also instructs the BBRS along with the Division of Energy Resources to adopt regulations for certifying trained energy code inspectors. The language was taken directly from language that was developed by NEEP for an earlier bill that focused solely on building codes. The State Senate will take up the whole bill in January.

International Codes Council (ICC) Meeting

NEEP has been preparing for the upcoming ICC meeting in February. It has joined the Energy Efficient Codes Coalition (EECC). The EECC has submitted a raft of proposals designed to increase the energy efficiency of the residential portion of the code by 30 percent.  NEEP has joined this group and participated in the strategy sessions designed to help get the proposals passed. In addition, NEEP has been organizing code officials and program administrators in order to solicit their help at the ICC meeting. NEEP has organized two teleconferences with code officials, program administrators and energy agency staff. The first teleconference explained the importance of the work being done at the ICC and of NEEP and their respective roles. The second teleconference was taken with explaining the various proposals submitted by the EECC. During this call, the first discussions began as to the roles of code officials in advocating for the EECC proposals. Several more calls are scheduled for the new year.