The Northeast was well represented as the energy efficiency community gathered in Washington, D.C. March 1-2 for the eighth annual Market Transformation Symposium sponsored by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE).
Several of the NEEP staff, sponsors and Board members played key roles in helping to organize, lead or participate in the many working sessions and panel discussions.
Director of Initiative Management Glenn Reed was part of the planning committee for the symposium, and also moderated the panel on "CFL Sales: Working with Mass Merchandisers."
Among others who helped put together panel discussions or other sessions were NEEP staff members:
- Public Relations Director Jim O'Reilly, who organized and moderated a panel discussion on "Maintaining Energy Efficiency Program Funding," which also featured as a panelist NEEP Board member Steve Cowell of Conservation Services Group discussing the experiences learned from last year's funding battle in Connecticut.
- Public Policy Outreach Manager Julie Michals, who organized a panel on "Performance Incentives for Market Transformation Programs: Comparison of Northwest and Northeast Experiences," which also featured Carol White of NEEP sponsor National Grid as a panelist.
- Research and Evaluation Manager Elizabeth Titus, who facilitated a working session on "Evaluating Information, Education and Training Programs," and who organized panels on "Market Penetration: New Horizons" and "Evaluation for Non-Evaluators: Key Strategic Evaluation Results," which also featured Paul DeCotis of NEEP sponsor the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
- Assistant Residential Programs Manager Subid Wagley, who helped organize the session on "CFL Sales: Working with Mass Merchandisers."
- Executive Director Sue Coakley, who moderated the conference's opening plenary session "Market Transformation: Past, Present and Future," which also featured ACEEE Executive Director and NEEP Board member Steve Nadel, and who presented the Northeast perspectives as part of the Regional Roundup panel discussion, which also featured sponsor participation from NYSERDA's Rick Gerardi and Mona Mosser of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
Among NEEP sponsors, NYSERDA's DeCotis also served as a panelist for the discussion of "Integrating Demand Response and Energy Efficiency," while his colleague Bill Parlapiano facilitated a working session on "Developing Paths to Good/Best Practices in Residential HVAC Systems."
NYSERDA's Priscilla Richards presented as part of the working session on "Improving In-Field Performance of Small Commercial Rooftop Units: Advancing the Discussion on Program Approaches." Meanwhile, in the industrial track, NYSERDA's Ruth Horton was a panelist for "Improving Motor Management through National Partnerships," while her colleague Janet Joseph facilitated the session on "Partnering for Increasing Energy Efficiency in the Water and Wastewater Sectors."
Finally, Michael McAteer of NEEP sponsor National Grid facilitated a working session on "Growing the Market Share for Homes & Commercial Buildings Achieving 50% Savings or More," while National Grid's Tom Coughlin presented as part of the session on "Identifying Opportunities in the Next Generation of T8 Lighting."
NEEP participants identified several high level themes running through this year's symposium:
- High quality energy efficient products, such as HVAC systems, can virtually sell themselves if customers are educated to recognize that quality and the benefits. Key to the effort is training in the proper sizing and installation of HVAC systems, and multiple opportunities exist.
- In working with certain high efficiency products, program administrators need to take care when working with retail partners to ensure that their efforts effect permanent market changes, and not just temporary changes in product stocking patterns in response to short-term promotions.
- Target sector strategies, such as those aimed at efficiency in water and wastewater management, are complex but potentially carry large benefits.
- Significant results have been achieved through market transformation efforts regionally and nationally; market transformation methods and strategies have become quite sophisticated; and the commitment to market transformation as an energy efficiency strategy is reflected in the fact that an estimated 70 percent of the attendees have been coming to the symposium since its inception.
- There are huge benefits in learning from the experiences of other regional organizations and individual states, particularly when it comes to challenges such as analyzing cost-effectiveness or market transformation program impacts.
- Trade allies are developing greater interest in sharing market data, but there are still several key unresolved issues when it comes to being able to access market penetration data.
- New strategies in market transformation - such as portfolio management - hold great promise, particularly with regard to enhancing the public policy environment for energy efficiency.
- A focus on new technologies - such as light emitting diodes, or LEDs - are still somewhat underrepresented in the symposium.
- Contractors provide an interesting perspective on the business opportunities in the field of energy efficiency, particularly in the area of "whole house" energy efficiency.
- Awareness nationally of the ENERGY STAR brand continues to increase.
- There is a strong need to increase opportunities for new entrants into the energy efficiency field. One suggestion was for the industry to reach out to younger, less experienced participants through "primer" tracks.
- Working with industry on market transformation strategies while simultaneously pursing policy/regulatory options such as product standards is fraught with peril. The message needs to be that the two efforts can and should be complementary.
Presentations from the 2004 Market Transformation Symposium are available online at http://www.aceee.org/conf/mt04/mt04annc.htm. |
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