2026 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Panels/ Panel Leaders

We will continue with our popular panels as well as new to address current issues in the field.  The following are the panels that will be highlighted at the conference:

Panel 1: Residential Buildings: Technologies, Design, Operations, and Industry Trends

Carter Dedolph Centerpoint Energy	Bo Shen Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Panel 2: Residential Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Frank Rapley TVA	Amit Kulkarni Eversource

Panel 3: Commercial Buildings: Technologies, Design, Operations, and Industry Trends

Alexi Miller New Buildings Institute	Helia Zandi Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Panel 4: Commercial Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Megan Campbell Opinion Dynamics	Cindy Zhu Gridium

Panel 5: Energy and Opportunity: Serving All

Will Bryan Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance	Kaiyu Sun Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Panel 6: Utilities and the Future

Ben Clarin EPRI	Anne-Marie Peracchio NJNG

Panel 7: Market Transformation

Ryan Brown Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance	Stacey Hobart CalMTA

Panel 8: Human Dimensions of Energy Use

Chrissi Antonopoulos Pacific Northwest National Laboratory	Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez

Panel 9: Energy Policy: Federal, State, Local, and International

Maddie Koewler NASEO	Maggie Molina Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership

Panel 10: New Construction

Katie Ackerly David Baker Architects	Ian Finlayson MA Department of Energy Resources

Panel 11: Smart and Grid-Interactive Buildings

Therese Peffer California Institute for Energy and Environment	Marco Pritoni Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Panel 12a: Healthy and Adaptable Communities

Shannon Stendel Slipstream	Andrea Mengual Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Panel 12b: Data Centers: Load Growth and Solutions

Mitchell Rosenberg DNV	Eric Yang

Panel 13a: Workforce

Madeline Salzman Earth Advantage	Kristen Parrish University of Arizona

Panel 13b: Innovations to Scale Retrofits and New Construction

Chioke Harris National Renewable Energy Laboratory	Brett Webster Rocky Mountain Institute

Panel 14: Poster Display Presentations

Kristen Parrish Arizona State University

Call for Papers

The deadline to submit abstracts has passed.  We are no longer accepting submissions. Notifications about the status of abstracts will be sent to all submitters by January 14, 2026.
PLEASE NOTE: All accepted presenters are required to register and pay the registration fee.

Click on the title of each panel for a full description. 

Abstract Timeline:

Oct 17, 2025 — Deadline to submit abstract(s)
Nov 21, 2025— Panel leaders finish reviewing abstracts

Dec. 11, 2025 – Abstract selection finalized
Jan 14, 2026 — Notification letters re: status of abstracts sent to authors

Registration

Registration is now open.  Full week registration includes access to all program events, one ticket to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and early access to conference proceedings.  Register by June 5 and save!

Click here to register for the Summer Study.  Registration does NOT include lodging (see Accommodations below for more information about staying on-site at Asilomar.)

Dress Code: The Summer Study dress is casual.  Leave your business clothes at home and dress like you’re going to energy camp!  Jeans, shorts, sweatshirts, and tees are fine to wear.  Check the weather before you come and pack accordingly.  Even though it’s summertime, it can still be chilly in the Monterey Bay area.

To help you plan your budget, the following are the standard registration rates:

 Cancellation Fees: Any cancellation made before July 19 will incur a $150 processing fee. No refunds will be issued after July 19 except on a case-by-case basis.

Accommodations

Lodging is now available on-site at Asilomar.  Book your accommodations here. On-site lodging includes 3 meals per day.

*Rates do not include taxes and other fees.

Meals

Three meals per day are included for all attendees staying on-site.

For those attendees staying off-site, meal tickets will be available for purchase from the Asilomar Front Desk in the Hearst Social Hall.

*Rates include taxes and other fees.

Program

Refer to the Program at a Glance table below for an overview of the conference week.  More detailed Session Schedules and Full Program coming soon.

Plenaries

The Plenaries will occur Sunday (8/2), Monday (8/3), and Tuesday (8/4) evenings from 7:30 to 9:00 PM in Merrill Hall followed by hospitality events.

Effective Strategies for Housing and Energy Affordability (Day TBD)

The cost of housing, which includes mortgage or rent and utilities, is households’ largest expense, eating up a third of the average household’s budget. Along with gasoline and other necessities, these costs have been going up, leading to an affordability crisis. Housing and energy issues are often viewed in isolation and are even pitted against each other, but are there policies and programs that can address the cost of living in its totality, leading to real, monthly relief for households and further non-monetary benefits? Hear from two housing affordability experts about what these solutions could look like at the local and federal levels, and how we can work through the conflicts of today to a more abundant and fair future.

Matt Malinowski Buildings Director ACEEE (moderator)	Daphany Rose Sanchez Executive Director KC3 (speaker)	Mike Kingsella CEO Up for Growth (speaker)

Innovations in Efficiency and Flexibility (Monday, August 3 | 7:30 – 9:00 pm, Merrill Hall)

New businesses are bundling distributed resources to support grids and deliver capacity through innovative partnerships. Recognizing net new capacity requires new contracting approaches, differences in engaging consumers, and ultimately market recognition for delivering different kinds of benefits. Octopus is a leading example of the new aggregation approaches – delivering at scale in the U.K. today - and building U.S. markets with new partnerships and offerings. This fireside chat features Nick Chaset, Executive Vice President, North America, at Octopus Energy Group and CEO of Octopus Energy US.  He will discuss,  with ACEEE’s Executive Director Jennifer Layke, emerging efficiency and flexibility-as-a-service business model and updated market experiences.

Nick Chaset CEO Octopus Energy US	Jennifer Layke Executive Director ACEEE

Other Activities and Sessions

SEM Summit (cost: $150)

Monday, August 3, 2026 | 1:00 – 5:00 PM, Merrill Hall

Kick off your 2026 Summer Study week with the North American Strategic Energy Management (SEM) Collaborative at the 8th annual SEM Summit! This year, the Summit is taking place on Monday, Aug 3rd from 1-5pm in Asilomar’s Merrill Hall. Attendees will catch up with each other and touch base on progress made, in this high-level agenda:

• Connections with Smart and Interesting Peers
• Updates from Regional and National Initiatives
• Updates on Research and Working Groups
• Interactive and Engaging Discussions on SEM’s Hottest Topics (e.g., Decarbonization)
• The annual SEM Success Awards

Register for the Summit through the Summer Study registration site and select the “SEM Summit” option.

To find out more information about the North American SEM Collaborative, please visit our website: NASEMC.org.

Summer Study Mentor Program 

Interested in meeting new people and making more connections at Summer Study? Join the mentor program to connect those new to the event with experienced attendees who can share their knowledge. If you are interested in being either a mentee or a mentor, there is an option to sign up for this program during registration. 

Aquarium Social Event 

We are going back to the Monterey Bay Aquarium this year for the mid-week Social Event on Wednesday, August 5 from 7:30 – 10:00 pm. The price of a ticket is included in the full-week registration. Additional tickets are available for purchase for family members. They can be purchased through registration or on-site in the Conference office. Charter buses will be provided to transport attendees from Asilomar to the Aquarium. 

Informal Sessions 

In addition to the conference’s 130 morning presentations and evening Plenary discussions, informal afternoon discussions will also be available for full week attendees to create and host. The main goals of these informal gatherings are to provide an open forum to continue discussions from the morning presentations or to facilitate discussions on other topics of mutual interest to attendees. The sign-ups, through application, will begin May 4, reviewed by a committee, and submitters will then be notified about their acceptances by July 17. More details to come. 

Linda Latham Scholarship

The Linda Latham Scholarship supports students interested in attending ACEEE's 2026 Buildings Summer Study. 

To be eligible, an applicant must be an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an accredited college or university who studies energy, climate change, or environmental science or policy and is considering a career in energy or energy efficiency.

For the 2026 Summer Study, students can apply for one of three scholarship levels: 

• Level 1: includes registration, lodging, and travel stipend
• Level 2: includes registration and lodging
• Level 3: includes registration only

The application deadline has passed. An ACEEE committee will review applications, select the winners, and notify recipients in April.

Awards

Harry Misuriello Award for Advancing Building Energy Codes

Apply here. Application deadline: May 15, 2026

ACEEE is accepting applications for the Harry Misuriello Award to provide an emerging professional with the opportunity to attend the 2026 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings and present a poster highlighting their work or a topic of interest related to building energy codes. The Award will cover the costs of registration and on-site room/board and provide a travel stipend. 

We established the award to honor Harry Misuriello who led ACEEE’s work to advance the development of strong energy codes for homes and commercial buildings from 2008 to 2020. Harry was a tireless and effective champion for improving the energy efficiency of new buildings and was dedicated to attracting and supporting talented new professionals working on building energy codes. 

Eligible candidates must be early career professionals (up to 5 years of professional experience) pursuing advances in energy efficiency through work in state and local government, advocacy organizations, or research institutions.

Champion of Energy Efficiency Awards

ACEEE is now accepting nominations for the Champion of Energy Efficiency in Buildings Awards.

Submit nominations for your peers who have led successful energy-saving efforts in the buildings sector. The ACEEE Board of Directors’ Awards Committee will, based solely on the submitted nomination package, select winners from nominees who have demonstrated innovation, leadership, and impact in the following categories:

• Research and Development (R&D): Excellence in baseline or background research as well as R&D of products and practices.
• Implementation and Deployment: Effective design and implementation of programs or projects that save significant energy.
• Energy Policy: Excellence in energy policy that supports or promotes efficiency at the federal, state, or local level.
• Young Professional: Excellence and leadership in any of the above categories for nominees who are 35 (as of 8/2/2026) or younger.
• Lifetime Achievement: For a career of leadership and sustained impacts on energy efficiency.

Nominate your Champion here. Please submit all nominations by May 15, 2026. Award recipients and their nominators will be notified by early June 2026. The awards will be presented at the 2026 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.