NGA Center to Help States Build Energy Strategies
The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) has selected seven states – Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Utah, and Wisconsin – to participate in a Policy Academy designed to help states develop an action plan and implementation strategy around improving energy use in buildings.
"States can play a major role in reducing energy use in buildings through improved codes, incentives for adopting energy efficient technologies, education, and other measures," said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center. "This Policy Academy will help states work through some of the challenges they face when developing policies to improve energy efficiency and increase use of renewable energy in buildings."
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy John Mizroch said, "In addition to our financial assistance, DOE will support Policy Academy states with experts from our national labs and other technical resources to help accelerate the adoption of smart clean energy policies. Building efficiency is the cheapest, most abundant source of energy to meet our growing electricity demand. Policies that incentivize all levels of investment in building efficiency and renewable energy can unleash untapped resources, help our economy, improve our environment, and increase our energy security."
States were selected to participate in the academy through a competitive process. The states selected identified existing energy challenges specifically related to the state's building stock, described the potential benefits and expected outcomes of participation in the academy, and identified high-level state teams to participate throughout the project.