August 7, 2024
Greetings from the third full day of the ACEEE Summer Study on Efficiency in Buildings! It's great to be back on the beach in Asilomar, California to learn about and discuss the latest in building decarbonization.
This is my fourth Summer Study and the first since joining ACEEE as the new Buildings Director. In this role, I'll be working with my Buildings Program colleagues to halve the energy consumption of US buildings and supply the rest from clean, renewable energy sources. We are doing this through:
- Bringing up the performance of new construction though building codes,
- Retrofitting and electrifying millions of existing buildings,
- All while addressing workforce and affordability challenges.
To inform this work, I have been attending sessions on building energy storage, which allows homes and businesses to be powered by renewables, even when the wind's not blowing and the sun's not shining. Meanwhile, my colleagues have been attending and leading sessions on codes, building performance standards, and linking efficiency and resilience, among others.
Together, we have also been meeting with partners, with whom we hope to develop the next generation of projects. I hope you're similarly inspired and excited to build on everything we're learning this week. I would love to hear about it, so please don't hesitate to get in touch to share or to discuss ACEEE's work and how we can collaborate to advance efficiency in buildings!
Matt Malinowski,
Buildings Director
August 6, 2024
Scenes from a vibrant poster session
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Dive into Codes at Summer Study Today!
Today at Summer Study, we've dedicated a block of time to codes and the Codes Collaborative. While there's a lot happening at Asilomar, we encourage you to look out for familiar faces and seize the opportunity to welcome more people into our community. Here's what's on the agenda:
10:30am – 12pm: A special session in Panel 10 (Room: Marlin) on “Establishing Collaborative Networks for Effective Energy Code Implementation.” Speakers will include active participants in the Codes Collaborative: ACEEE’s Mike Waite, PNNL’s Kim Cheslak, SEEA’s Maggie Kelley Riggins and Colorado Energy Office’s Adam Berry, with moderator Chris Perry from DOE.
12pm – 1:30pm: A separate lunch space in Crocker Dining Hall for the codes community. There are lots of people to meet across Asilomar throughout the week and those serendipitous encounters are often interesting and fruitful. But we also want to find our codes friends from across the country. We’re setting aside space one day for Collaborative members and any others ranging from codes experts to “codes curious.”
2:00-4:00pm: An informal session titled, “Learn to (Energy) Code! Help Shape the New National Energy Codes Collaborative.” This session will provide a brief overview of the Codes Collaborative and its main activities. We will have an open discussion with a range of experts across the building energy efficiency community at Asilomar, and we will solicit input on focus areas and outcomes for the Collaborative going forward. Come join the discussion and continue contributing to your Collaborative!
August 5, 2024
Leah Karmaker receives The Harry Misuriello Award
This evening ACEEE awarded Leah Karmaker the Harry Misuriello Award for Advancing Building Energy Codes. Karmaker has worked in building energy codes for three years as the design and project coordinator for Just Housing SBC in Duluth, Minnesota. Just Housing designs ready-to-build zero-energy homes to make housing healthier and more resilient while lowering home energy costs and cutting pollution. ACEEE recognized Karmaker’s success in bringing together advocacy, organizing, and technical expertise for successful code development and adoption.
Karmaker is trained in architecture and has supplemented her design work with her organizing and political background to achieve equitable, systemic, and integrated approaches to reducing climate pollution with holistic perspectives that are too often lacking. Advocating for equitable and widespread adoption of sustainable housing through design, education, and research at Just Housing, Karmaker has worked to quantify the construction, operational, and carbon differences between zero-energy homes and homes merely built to code in Duluth.
ACEEE executive director Steven Nadel presented the Harry Misuriello award to Karmaker during Monday’s plenary session at ACEEE’s Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. ACEEE established the award to honor Harry Misuriello, who led ACEEE’s work from 2008 to 2020 to advance the development of strong energy codes for homes and commercial buildings. Misuriello was a tireless champion for improving the energy efficiency of new buildings and was dedicated to attracting and supporting talented new professionals working on building energy codes.
Congratulations!
Read the press release:
https://www.aceee.org/press-release/2024/08/aceee-names-2024-champions-energy-efficiency-buildings
Celebrating Excellence: Champions of Energy Efficiency Awards Tonight
Join us tonight as we honor the remarkable winners of the Champion of Energy Efficiency in Buildings Awards. These awards celebrate outstanding contributions across five categories:
Research and Development (R&D): Recognizing excellence in baseline research and the development of innovative energy-efficient products and practices.
Implementation and Deployment: Highlighting effective design and execution of programs or projects that significantly reduce energy consumption.
Energy Policy: Commending outstanding energy policies that support or promote efficiency at federal, state, or local levels.
Young Professional: Celebrating exceptional leadership and achievements in any of the above categories by individuals 35 or younger as of August 4, 2024.
Lifetime Achievement: Honoring a career of leadership and sustained impact on energy efficiency.
The awards ceremony is a highlight of our annual event, showcasing the inspiring work of individuals and organizations dedicated to advancing energy efficiency.
Monday Plenary: Dealing with Extreme Heat and Cold
Immediately following the awards, join us for the Monday Plenary session on a critical topic: "Dealing with Extreme Heat and Cold." As climate change intensifies, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, posing severe risks to those unable to afford energy bills or repair heating and cooling systems. This panel will explore the real-world impacts in Chicago, Arizona, and New York City, offering insights and solutions to these pressing challenges.
Don't miss this evening of recognition and important discussions. We look forward to celebrating with you tonight!
August 4, 2024
Summer Study is off to a great start: use #SummerStudy or #SummerStudy24 for your social shares.
Welcome to the 23rd biennial Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings!
Summer Study’s theme this year is Equity and Climate Action: Time to Deliver. Just before the last Summer Study got underway in August 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), an unprecedented investment to transform the energy sector to be safer and healthier, reduce carbon emissions, and prioritize the needs of underserved communities. The federal government and states are working now to implement the IRA to bring the benefits of energy efficiency to communities across America. Now is the time to take advantage of this critical moment in history and identify the innovations that will deliver climate justice through deep emissions reductions in our buildings.
With the climate crisis becoming more urgent and critical by the day, our work is more important than ever. The Rhodium Group estimates that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased by 1.3% in 2022. While emissions from the electric power sector are down, outside that sector, emissions increased slightly. The most significant increase was direct emissions from buildings, which rose by 6% – the only sector to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
Summer Study serves as a platform to share knowledge, foster collaboration, and drive innovation in energy efficiency. By bringing together experts, policymakers, and stakeholders, we can develop and implement the solutions necessary to tackle the climate crisis. Through our collective efforts, we can ensure that buildings are energy-efficient and resilient while meeting the needs of all communities, especially those that have been historically underserved.
Karma Sawyer, Summer Study 2024 Co-Chair, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Welcome to the 2024 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings!
Stay tuned for updates to the Grapevine here.