Andrew Navolio's Blog (15)

The following post was written by MEEA Program Manager Will Baker

Currently, The Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) is assisting the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Energy (MDNR-DE) in facilitating a stakeholder process to develop a state-specific voluntary home energy certification program. Previously, MEEA completed similar tasks for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) as a…

Illinois Home Performance has had an exciting month and the program is pleased to announce that it has reached the following milestones:

* MEEA, on behalf of DCEO, is seeking applications for training providers for its Building Science Training Series (BSTS) classes in program year 2012-13. Courses in this year’s BSTS will educate Illinois contractors about the technical and business aspects of the home performance industry and will provide BPI CEUs to…

The following post was written by Julie Johnson with Journatic News Service.  The original publishing of the story can be read here. 

(Office of Will County Executive Larry Walsh,…

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS), has added additional green design, disclosure, and data verification to its connectMLS™ system. Following on the heels of MRED’s overwhelmingly successful integration of Walk Score®,…

Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (IHP) is currently sponsoring a building science training series. The most recent training took place in Normal, Illinois at Heartland Community College on Infrared technologies such as infrared cameras and images used to detect problem areas in buildings. Brian Kumer, owner of Thermal Imaging Services, was the instructor for this 8-hour course which consisted of both a classroom portion and a field portion.…

Energy Code Gap Analyses are reports that document a particular state’s energy code infrastructure to assess current gaps, identify best practices, and give recommendations for how these practices can be improved. The Building Codes Assistance Project (BCAP) has conducted several Gap Analyses over the course of the past year and these analyses can be a major step towards informing the state on how to reduce energy use by improving energy codes in those states. The gap analyses are part of…

Nick Magrisso recently posted a blog on the NRDC website highlighting the Carpenter Training Center in Elk Grove Village in Illinois as part of his series of exploratory video blogs on how energy efficiency is creating jobs in Illinois. It has been long recognized that a large amount of energy is wasted through improper or outdated building techniques. In addition to creating jobs,…

The Climate Policy Initiative has completed a study to measure and evaluate the impact of residential building energy codes on total household energy consumption, “Codes to Cleaner Buildings: Effectiveness of US Building Energy Codes”, was released by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) of San Francisco, California on September 7, 2011. Conducted by Jeff Deason and Andrew Hobbs of CPI, the study was done to see if building energy codes make an impact on home energy use and greenhouse gas…

A new program by Xcel Energy, a utility supplier of electricity and natural gas to eight Western and Midwestern states, is racking up serious energy efficiency gains by targeting some of the biggest energy users around – large industrial customers.

The Process Efficiency program analyzes customers’ total energy use – from manufacturing equipment to HVAC and lighting – and creates a custom plan to help them save on energy costs.

The initiative…

DTE Energy helped Detroit’s grocers keep their broccoli – and their billfolds – a little greener this year with its energy-saving Grocer’s Incentive Program. The initiative won the 2011 Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s Inspiring Efficiency Innovation…

*This post was drafted by Isaac Elnecave and Michael Hairston members of the MEEA Policy Team

This week, the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) held a train-the-trainer session for the 2009 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1 – 2007 at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul, Minnesota. This training was sponsored and funded by the US Department of Energy and hosted attendees from several Midwest states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.…

Although ISO 50001 has only recently been released in the US, it has been available in other countries prior to now. A recent article highlights some of the more successful implementations of the Protocol. It should be noted that while ISO 50001 is an excellent strategy for the pursuit of energy management, it should be considered internally on a case by…

MEEA has scheduled a Level I Building Operator Certification (BOC) training in partnership with the City of Aurora, IL to begin in August. The City of Aurora will utilize funding from the federal Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) to cover tuition rebates for operations and maintenance staff who work for a business in Aurora or are current residents of the city. The funding will cover the full tuition cost of $1,250 for program participants who successfully complete all the…

The winners of MEEA’s Inspiring Efficiency Awards are among the most innovative and dynamic players in the energy field.  Now that the application process is officially open for the 2012 Inspiring Efficiency Awards, we thought it might be fun to check back in with some of our award winners from last year to get an update on their projects.

Prairie Power, Inc. of Jacksonville, Ill., received…

*This post was drafted by Isaac Elnecave and Michael Hairston of the MEEA Policy Team

At the recently concluded ASHRAE Winter Meeting in Montreal, significant changes occurred to the development of the ASHRAE 90.2 standard (ASHRAE 90.2 is the companion standard to ASHRAE 90.1 and applies primarily to residential dwellings). Prior to the…