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Innovating Together: MEEA's Contribution to the DOE's Buildings Upgrade Prize

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Contributors: Arlinda Bajrami, Miranda Andrade & Molly GrahamThe Department of Energy’s (DOE) Buildings Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP) offers a unique opportunity for fostering innovation and collaboration in the realm of building upgrades. Buildings UP aims to retrofit existing buildings to be more energy-efficient and utilize clean-energy technologies. This may involve the installation of efficient electric equipment like heat pumps and heat pump water heaters, as well as other measures such as insulation and air sealing.  As Regional Navigators for the 12 teams in the Midwest + Alaska region, MEEA is proud to play a pivotal role in this transformative initiative. Over the next several years, we will assist our region’s teams, and…

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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Workshop Recap

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The energy efficiency industry represents a wide umbrella of sectors including utilities, academia, community-based organizations, state and local governments, implementers, program designers, manufacturers and many more. With environmental justice at the center of clean energy conversations and unprecedented funding available for efficiency nationwide, cross-sector collaboration is an essential but challenging aspect of building efficient and resilient communities. The 2024 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference provided a forum for hundreds of professionals across the industry to lay the groundwork for our clean energy future. Attendees focused on the role of cross-sector partnerships in the clean energy transition during the workshop A…

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Workshopping the Buzz Around Energy Codes

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The MEEA Building Codes & Policy team hosted the workshop, "To Infinity and Beyond: Workshopping the Buzz about Energy Codes” at the 2024 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference. In the planning of this workshop, it was important that the expanding list of benefits that come with advancing energy codes – occupant health, grid impacts, carbon reduction and utility bill savings, to name a few, were a focus of the conversation. It was also important to discuss the challenges faced by states and jurisdictions when adopting energy codes. This includes accessing technical assistance resources, gaining utility program support, engaging with rural as well as urban communities and tracking compliance and enforcement. As building codes are becoming…

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