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A Landmark Annual Meeting for NASEO

The 2010 NASEO Annual Meeting met record attendance this week in Boston with over 315 participants.  Wednesday’s keynote luncheon speaker, Assistant Secretary Cathy Zoi from the U.S. Department of Energy, congratulated the states for meeting the State Energy Program spending goal of 20 percent by September 30.  On Thursday, Sue Tierney with the Analysis Group, who served as assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and also held numerous positions in the state of Massachusetts, including Energy Office policy director, prompted states to think about how their energy program efforts can be maintained and modernized after the influx of ARRA funds.  Over the course of the three day meeting, attendees heard the latest on state and federal efforts to implement sustainable ARRA programs, spur economic development, and improve the nation's building stock through innovative financing mechanisms and technologies.  The Honorable Ian Bowles, Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs in Massachusetts, opened the meeting and welcomed attendees to the state. 

The meeting covered a broad range of building and technology issues, including retrofit financing options; clean energy research and deployment; investment for renewables generation and transmission; benchmarking, monitoring and verification; and successful state models. Three of NASEO’s Affiliate Members presented on the qualities of commercial and industrial insulation towards meeting energy goals.  Face-to-face meetings between the states and DOE representatives to overcome ARRA challenges complemented the core conference agenda.  The new NASEO-ASERTTI Renewable Energy Committee convened, as did the Industrial, Buildings, and Energy Data and Security committees.

Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, provided an update on DOE activities, including the State Energy Efficiency Action Network, and discussed how states can assist in meeting federal public policy goals.  Mark Bailey and Tobias Russell, also from DOE, provided an update on ARRA SEP and EECBG progress.  Lani Macrae and a panel of state energy office representatives shared best practices and lessons learned from the appliance rebate program.  Bill Bryan from the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability focused on energy emergency planning and response, especially cyber security and meeting new threats to the electric grid.  Thomas Sacco in the Tribal Energy Program presented on tribal government and state partnerships.

NASEO would like to extend a special thanks to the meeting sponsors: 4tell Solutions, American Express, Constellation Energy, Energy Services Coalition, EnerNOC, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, Solar Alliance, American Express, and the Weidt Group.

For access to the full agenda and speaker presentations, please visit the NASEO website: http://www.naseo.org/events/annual/2010/presentations/index.html.