Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance Inc

Programs: Market execution:in partnership with the region, the alliance uses the market power of the northwest's 13 million energy consumers to accelerate the innovation and adoption of both electric and natural gas energy-efficient products, services and practices. Some key activities and results stemming from the region's investment are: -the alliance launched two new market transformation programs - commercial code enhancement and condensing gas rooftop units - bringing the total number of electric and natural gas programs to 20. In addition, neea added two innovative technologies to existing programs - low-e storm windows and split-system heat pump water heaters. -regional sales of heat pump water heaters increased 66% over 2016. At the same time, the cost of small tanks, defined as those under 55 gallons, decreased by 20%. -regional ductless heat pump sales increased 22% over 2016. -market share of low watt fluorescent lamps reached 38% - up from 22% in 2016. More than 250 electrical and lighting distributor branches are now participating in the program, which represents roughly 43% of all linear lamp sales in the region. -the alliance developed and delivered trade ally training across the region including, industrial technical training for plant operators and engineers, trade ally training for lighting contractors, and code compliance and education training for home builders. -the regional strategic market planning process increased regional collaboration and delivered tangible outcomes in both the commercial and industrial lighting and consumer products markets. -the alliance maintained robust on-line libraries of information, tools and resources, including sem hub, betterbuiltnw, and better bricks, to support regional efficiency efforts -neea's natural gas collaborative worked with manufacturers, technology developers, trade associations and others to accelerate the development of efficient natural gas technologies, including: efficient gas water heaters, combination space and water heating systems, efficient gas dryers, and condensing rooftop units. Staff are working with manufacturers to refine their products to maximize energy savings, reduce product cost and ensure consumer satisfaction.

planning, evaluation and technology:neea scans the market to identify promising new energy-efficient products and conducts lab and field testing to validate product performance and energy savings. In 2017, the alliance: -investigated a pipeline of emerging energy efficiency opportunities representing technical savings potential for the region of more than 1,400 average megawatts (amw) -conducted lab and field-testing of several emerging technologies, including: quick-connect ductless heat pumps, combination space and water heating systems, split-system heat pump water heaters, and very high efficiency dedicated outdoor air systems for commercial buildings. -the regional emerging technology advisory committee, which is facilitated by neea staff, launched the region's first shared emerging technology database. The database, maintained by neea staff on conduitnw. Org, increases regional visibility into emerging technology activities across organizations and reduces development costs by avoiding redundancies. Alliance research and evaluation efforts drive programming, define challenges within energy efficiency work, and provide critical market data and analysis about regional energy consumption and building stock. In 2017, the alliance: -published 18 market research and evaluation reports, including a market assessment of commercial window attachments, the third market progress and evaluation report for heat pump water heaters, the results of marketing messaging testing for super-efficient clothes dryers and a market characterization report for natural gas hearths in the northwest. -completed data collection for the residential building stock assessment (rbsa) and kicked off the commercial building stock assessment (cbsa). The rbsa and cbsa are comprehensive inventories of existing northwest buildings that neea manages every five years. Results inform utility energy efficiency programs as well as regional power planning efforts. Rbsa data and final reports were published in march and april, 2018. -launched a five-year, $12. 5 million effort to collect end-use load data on selected electric end-uses, including ductless heat pumps, ducted heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, central air conditioning, forced air furnaces and baseboard heaters. As the first end-use load research of any significance in the northwest since the 1980s, this work will greatly support regional planning and program design.

stakeholder engagement and communication:the goal of neea's stakeholder engagement and communication team is to facilitate and advance regional collaboration between neea and its funders and stakeholders. In 2017, the alliance: -delivered the annual efficiency exchange conference to facilitate regional collaboration on energy efficiency opportunities and share success stories and best practices. The conference, which was held in may 2017, drew more than 400 attendees. -convened chief executive officers from utilities and key regional energy efficiency groups to discuss the future of energy efficiency in the region at the annual northwest energy efficiency leadership meeting -organized and facilitated quarterly neea advisory committee meetings, in addition to quarterly board meetings, to ensure regional engagement and participation in alliance market transformation programs. There are currently seven active advisory committees: regional portfolio, cost-effectiveness, natural gas, emerging technology, residential, commercial and industrial. -maintained and managed conduitnw, an online community with over 3,100 active users from the energy efficiency community, that facilitates information-sharing, coordination and collaboration in the northwest.