Partnering today for a more efficient tomorrow |
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FROM THE DESK OF TIMOTHY D. UNRUH
NAESCO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Hello NAESCO members and welcome to 2022!
NAESCO has returned to live meetings – what am I saying, NAESCO was doing live meetings in 2021! However, in this here today, gone tomorrow, and back again pandemic, it seems I need to keep saying that we are back to doing live meetings. Last month, we held the 2022 NAESCO Federal Workshop in Washington DC. We had a great turnout with about 180 persons present at the event. There were some great networking opportunities, and we heard from the Department of Defense and several other agencies. If you missed it, contact Heidi or Michelle and they can help you get connected with the recordings.
On to the future, we have restarted our Regional Meetings. Remember, these meetings are an opportunity for members to discuss how a market is functioning. We discuss the market processes, structures, legislation, or whatever might be or not be working. These meetings provide information to NAESCO about how we can proceed to best help our members. We held the Western meeting in February in Berkeley California, and as I write this, we will hold the Southeast meeting in Atlanta in April. We have planned the Midwest meeting in Chicago in August – check out website for full information.
For the June members meeting, we are going to hear from people familiar with the ESCO industry. We don’t want to look back on 2022 and quote Charles Dickens: “It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Worst of Times.” I am hearing that members are signing great business in 2022, but have seen challenges in fulfilling that business with shortages or delays on materials and workers. Thus, for the June members meeting, we will have insiders talk about the supply chain, employee movement, as well as changes in the industry overall. While I doubt we will solve all of the problems we are seeing in 2022, we can at least better understand them – with a hope that understanding leads us to strategies to succeed. Our June meeting will be in Golden Colorado, where we have worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to get tours of their site. Make sure to mark your calendars, as this meeting will be a great one.
BUT! There is still the November Annual Renovate Retrofit Reduce conference – which will be in Orlando, Florida. This event is still in the planning stages, but put a hold on November 7-9. This event will again be a great time for networking but also for learning about what is happening in the industry.
NAESCO is continuing to work on the monies from congress from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or IIJA. In particular, the $500,0000,000 in K-12 monies that will be distributed by the Department of Energy. We helped lead a group of efficiency minded organizations form a set of principles on how this money should be spent. On April 4, the Department of Energy issued a Request for Information about this spending – you can find this RFI on our website. If you work with K-12, you should review.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the June and November meetings!
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NAESCO ADVOCACY UPDATEMarM |
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During the first quarter of 2022, NAESCO has split its advocacy efforts between working on the implementation of the federal stimulus and infrastructure legislation and working on ESCO legislation in several states.
Federal – Implementation
The three stimulus bills and the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) appropriated tens of billions of dollars that could be invested in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and grid-enabled buildings (new name for demand response) over the next five years. NAESCO is collaborating with national organizations to ensure that the implementation of the programs takes full advantage of the comprehensive project delivery and financial leveraging that ESCO projects offer.
One example of this work is a collaboration with national education organizations and EE equipment manufacturers to develop a common position -- convincing federal and state officials that the ESSER stimulus funds should prioritize energy efficiency investments. Contact NAESCO if you would like to see a copy.
Another example is the collaboration of more than two-dozen national organizations in the Energy Efficiency Strategy Group to understand how the IIJA programs will be administered by the US Department of Energy. Which offices and individuals are responsible for each program? What is the timing for guidance documents, solicitations, and the release of funds? We have organized introductory meetings with the DOE offices and formed working groups of EESG members that plan to meet regularly with the DOE offices to advocate for our positions, and to ensure that our members have the best available information. We are now expanding this collaboration to several state and regional EE trade associations and the Regional Energy Efficiency Organizations.
State – Legislation
NAESCO has worked intensely in several states to deal with legislative issues that threaten the ESCO industry.
· Illinois – We have defeated for the fifth year, anti-ESCO legislation sponsored by the state associations of architects and engineers. This year’s fight was the most difficult, and we won because of extraordinary efforts by the ESCO working group and our lobbyist.
· Tennessee – We are working with the state Department of General Services to help them launch the state buildings program that was authorized by 2021 legislation. The focus is on questions about project financing from State Funding Board and the State Construction Board. IT appears that the program may start with controlled tranches of funding, like the North Carolina and Georgia programs started.
· Texas – Last year, about a dozen ESCOs and several lobbyists retained by the ESCOs worked to negotiate a reasonable version of legislation that threatened to knock ESCOs out of the water/wastewater project market. This year, the FBI has been investigating in the same area of the state that gave rise to the 2021 legislation, and several individuals have been indicted and/or pled guilty to bribery. The state senator who represents the area, and who was a co-sponsor of the 2021 legislation, has said that further legislation to restrict the ESCO industry is necessary. NAESCO has reconvened the ESCO working group and is developing talking points and other materials in anticipation of the new legislation.
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NAESCO WELCOMES NEW COMPANY MEMBERS |
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Welcome to our new members as of April 1:
ESCO (Full Members)
Syserco Energy Solutions is a design-build Energy Services Company (ESCo) focused on providing Customers with Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy.
Energy Service Affiliates
Excel Energy Group is the Nation’s leading LED design and installation team. We are committed to excellence in energy efficiency and always on the cutting edge of energy technology. Excel serves educational, municipal government, and healthcare markets, and has upgraded over 20,000 facilities in these sectors over 30 years of business. Having upgraded thousands of lighting systems throughout the United States, Excel has a proven track record that has resulted in hundreds of millions in savings for our customers. From the start, our mission has remained true: provide optimal learning and working environments while maximizing energy savings for every client. - Welcome back to NAESCO!
H2O Applied Technologies is a design build contractor serving the ESCO community. H2O designs and installs water, steam, lighting, and building envelope retrofits in existing building across North America and Asia. H2O's engineering staff evaluates existing building systems, and designs water and energy savings retrofits in an Investment Grade audit process. H2O's operations team of project managers, site supervisors, and installers work daily on our ESCO customers project sites. H2O offers full turnkey projects from design to installation and measurement and verification services exclusively to the ESCO market.
Synapse is an Internet of Things (IoT) company, founded in 2007. We are focused on making environments smarter, more connected, and more controllable with a holistic chip-to-cloud full stack lighting control and energy management solution called SimplySnap. Built on Synapse’s reliable, secure, and scalable wireless mesh network, SimplySnap is deployed in industrial facilities, parking lots, garages, distribution centers, factories, horticulture and sports facilities.
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MEMBER NEWS AND RECENT PROJECTS |
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Click here for the latest Member Project and Other News
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June Member Meetings
Join us in Golden, CO for the June Member Meetings! Highlights will include exclusive tours of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, specially arranged for our members and not open to the general public, social events, an Affiliate Advisory Committee meeting, the Board of Directors Meeting, and a combined Members Meeting with guest speakers! Registration, agenda, hotel and sponsorship opportunities are here!
In addition to the June Member Meetings, don't miss our monthly Webinars, Federal Updates and in-person Regional Meetings! See our event calendar for details!
Other events:
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2022 NAESCO AWARD PROGRAM |
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The National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO) has established an Award Program to recognize the accomplishments of our member companies. The submission deadline is June 15, 2022, and finalists and the winner will be announced at the Annual R3 Conference in November.
For more information click here.
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NAESCO's voluntary Accreditation Program is open to NAESCO members in good standing. Accreditation is offered twice a year. The Spring Accreditation process begins in January and the Fall Accreditation begins in July.
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FEATURED MEMBER PRODUCTS AND SERVICES |
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Check out the new Preferred Partners page on NAESCO's website! This page features a menu allowing you to select the kinds of products and services you seek for your projects from our Affiliate members. It can sort by category, sub-categories, and attributes like "women-owned" etc.
Featured new products and services:
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THANK YOU TO OUR 2022 ANNUAL SPONSORS FOR
PROVIDING SUPPORT THROUGHOUT THE YEAR!
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