Letter to the Region:
The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) was founded in 1997 on a new and promising notion – that by working together to identify and remove market barriers throughout the supply chain, the region could achieve permanent gains in energy efficiency. Twenty-three years later, market transformation is recognized across the country as a powerful tool for delivering energy efficiency and the alliance as its most experienced purveyor.
2019 marked the last year of NEEA’s 5-year Business Plan (2015-2019). During this business cycle – by pooling resources, creating economies of scale and leveraging the market power of the region – the alliance:
- Filled the region’s energy efficiency pipeline by testing and vetting dozens of new opportunities and identifying 500aMW of long-term technical savings potential for the region;
- Increased Northwest influence on consumer products markets by expanding the ENERGY STAR Retail Products Platform (ESRRP) to participants representing more than 15 percent of U.S. households and 75 percent of U.S. appliance sales;
- Drove water heater product innovation by developing more efficient manufacturer specifications for both electric and natural gas-fueled heat pump water heaters;
- Accelerated natural gas product development by testing and vetting more than 40 technologies and joining forces with national partners to launch a North American field demonstration for gas heat pump technologies;
- Influenced the advancement of progressively effective building energy codes and equipment standards, providing research, technical support and training;
- Coordinated the first region-wide end use load study in 30 years to gather critical data on Northwest residential and commercial energy use;
- Launched the first 5-year plan for natural gas market transformation and reported the first natural gas energy savings, totaling 240,000 therms; and,
- Delivered 42 aMW of Co-Created energy savings to the region in 2019 and a total of 219 aMW in the business cycle – enough energy to power more than 160,000 Northwest homes for one year.
In these unprecedented economic times, we are proud of our work to ensure that energy efficiency benefits all Northwest customers. Energy efficiency creates jobs, saves money, and increases community resilience. Just as it did during the last great recession, energy efficiency will play a key role in the economic recovery of this region and our clean energy future. I look forward to realizing that future together.
With gratitude for our alliance,