Northwest Celebrates the 2021 Leadership in Energy Efficiency Awards

The seventh annual awards also mark the alliance’s 25-year anniversary

December 2, 2021 - Portland, Ore. – Today, the Board of Directors of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) honored the winners of the 2021 Leadership in Energy Efficiency Awards.

The alliance recognized standout teams and individuals in both electric and natural gas efficiency for outstanding collaboration, innovative solutions, and career-long contributions to advancing energy efficiency in the Northwest. The alliance also presented the Chairperson’s Award for unique, individual contributions to the success of the alliance.

The 2021 Leadership in Energy Efficiency winners include:

    Fortis BC
    Pictured: Jim Kobialko, Mila Barbour, Rav Deol
    INNOVATION:

    The FortisBC Innovative Technologies Team was recognized with the Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award for Innovation for its commitment to transforming the natural gas heat pump market. The team evaluates new space and water heating technologies that can achieve system efficiencies greater than 100% and show a promising path forward to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

    Margaret Lewis Collab BPA
    COLLABORATION:

    Margaret Lewis of the Bonneville Power Administration was awarded the Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award for Collaboration. Lewis’ contributions to excellence in customer service and collaboration between BPA and customer utilities supports the success of energy efficiency programs across the region.

    Frank Brown BPA Lifetime Achievement website
    LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT:

    Frank Brown of the Bonneville Power Administration was honored with the Tom Eckman Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award for Lifetime Achievement, in recognition of his more than 40-year career spent in energy efficiency. Brown’s remarkable professional achievements bookmark the beginning of energy efficiency programs in the Northwest from managing the first U.S. DOE Seattle conservation office in the 1970s to supporting BPA’s Demand Response and Distributed Energy Resources team. He was recognized for his vision of the region’s energy future and his remarkable legacy of delivering on the most ambitious energy efficiency goals in the United States.

    Within our rapidly changing industry, the Northwest’s energy efficiency community continues to show national leadership, collaboration and innovation toward meeting our shared energy efficiency goals. There’s no match to the level of commitment to collaboration we have here.

    - Susan Stratton
    Executive Director, NEEA
    Steve Wright Chelan PUD Chairpersons Award

    The Chairperson’s Award is an honor bestowed by NEEA’s Board chair and executive director in recognition of individual dedication and effective, long-term commitment to advancing the alliance’s work. The 2021 recipient of this award is Steve Wright, general manager Chelan PUD.

    “Steve was one of the first leaders in the region to articulate energy efficiency’s role in a more resilient power system,” stated Stratton, executive director of NEEA. “His leadership was essential to developing NEEA into a regional collaborative that not only saves energy, but also fills a pipeline with emerging technologies, compiles data resources for better planning, and engages with the market in building codes and appliance and equipment standards to permanently increase energy efficiency in the Northwest.”

    Celebrating 25 Years of Market Transformation

    In addition to recognizing the 2021 Leaders in Energy Efficiency, the alliance celebrated 25 years of pursuing market transformation in the region. Twenty-five years ago, the energy efficiency community in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington created the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance based on a shared belief that together, the region could accomplish far more for energy efficiency than any one organization could alone.

    For more information on the alliance’s 25 Year milestones and accomplishments, visit the timeline and watch the video.

    ###

    The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) is an alliance of more than 140 utilities and energy efficiency organizations working on behalf of more than 13 million energy consumers. NEEA is dedicated to accelerating both electric and natural gas energy efficiency, leveraging its regional partnerships to advance the adoption of energy-efficient products, services, and practices.

    Since 1997, NEEA and its partners have saved enough energy to power more than 620,000 homes each year. As the second-largest resource in the Northwest, energy efficiency can offset most of our new demand for energy, saving money and keeping the Northwest a healthy and vibrant place to live. www.neea.org

    Media Contact:
    Carolyn VanWinkle, NEEA
    cvanwinkle@neea.org

    Share