At this year’s Illinois Healthy & High Performing Schools Symposium, representatives from across industries rallied around the concept of getting each child into a green facility in this generation. On April 8, MEEA joined sustainability professionals from across the State to address how we can continue greening our schools in order to create healthy and high performing environment for students. Held at Chicago Public School’s Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, the event was sponsored by the USGBC- Illinois Chapter and the Association of Learning Environments.

MEEA successfully gave a workshop style presentation on energy data acquisition at the Affordable Energy Association’s 2015 Multifamily Buildings Conference in Brooklyn, NY on October 28-30, 2015. Together with Ellen M. Sargent, Chicago Housing Authority; and Ryan Snow, USGBC National; Steve Kismohr from MEEA brought concepts and related activities on how to engage Building Asset Managers to acquire base building information and manage energy use.

A shifted focus for the Savings Through Efficient Products program (STEP) brought many new facilities into the Illinois Energy Now participant portfolio during the 2015 program year. STEP provides informational resources, walkthrough assessments and free, easy‐to‐install energy efficient measures to qualifying Illinois public facilities.

Eighty-six percent of participants during the first three quarters of the year were new to Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) programs, helping close the gap between the number of public facilities eligible for state energy efficiency incentive programs and the percentage participating in these programs.

In April, three more veterans earned their Building Operator Certification (BOC) in Chicago and are now actively seeking new career opportunities. As part of the BOC program, MEEA and the State of Illinois connect unemployed and underemployed graduates with a network of Employment Partners who work to assist these veterans with career development. In 2015, Employment Partners Franklin Energy, CLEAResult, Ecova, Nexant, Lockheed Martin and Illinois AMVETS assisted with resume reviews and shared new job opportunities. Veterans Program Mentor ComEd assisted five veterans with homework completion during the course of the series.

MEEA is proud to highlight three recent graduates.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized the Illinois Energy & Recycling Office at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) with a 2015 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Award for its work on the Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program. DCEO’s accomplishments will be recognized in Washington, D.C. on April 20, 2014.