MIT EESP - Events

EVENT:	Fifth Annual Community Energy Innovations Symposium: Greening Cities with Energy Efficiency
WHEN:	May 2, 2014
WHERE:	MIT Media Lab

How do cities think about and work with energy efficiency as part of their sustainability initiatives?

Cities and community organizations continue to move forward as catalysts of energy efficiency in the built environment. With emphasis on highlighting the work of students and recent graduates, we consider how local action is moving to the forefront as a strategy to save energy and mitigate climate change.

Thank you to all who participated in the MIT 5th Annual Community Energy Innovations Symposium! We hope you found the event to be an effective and worthwhile discussion of our theme this year of Greening Cities with Energy Efficiency. By bringing together those of you who are leading practitioners, while highlighting the work of students and recent graduates, we hope the occasion added to both knowledge and network development for many of you. With the expertise and commitment shown, we feel confident that local action will continue to move to the forefront as a strategy to save energy and mitigate climate change!

You can find an agenda and presentation material provided by the speakers here.

Symposium Agenda:

9:00a - 11:30a: Green Economic Development with Commercial Energy Efficiency
Highlighting initiatives to expand/transform commercial building energy efficiency with strategies developed by MIT CoLab’s Green Economic Development Initiative. Presentation of cases and findings with guests including Paul Andersson, Bellevue Washington Environmental Stewardship Initiative, and David Strauss, A Better City, followed by roundtable discussions.

11:30a - 12:30p: Plenary Session
A keynote by Carl Spector - Director of Climate and Environmental Planning at City of Boston - declared #1 city for energy efficiency by the ACEEE! Carl will discuss how Boston’s innovative energy efficiency programs and regulations fit into Boston’s broader climate mitigation and adaptation program.

Also speaking/responding will be Paul Gromer, President of Peregrine Energy Group, a Boston-based leading community efficiency planning firm and Audrey Schulman, President of HEET, a Cambridge-based Efficiency Community Organizer working with cities across the region.

12:30p - 1:30p: Networking Lunch

1:30p - 4:00p: Green Economic Development with Commercial Energy Efficiency
Presenting current work from both students, EESP alumni, and practitioners who are exploring new program models (such as PACE financing, community-based marketing, one-stop shop ), and new tools (such as energy disclosure, community mapping, social media).

In addition to individual presentations, two recent research projects will be presented:

Kentucky Community Efficiency: Energy planning in rural and small-community contexts
Cambridge Multifamily Efficiency Pilot: Overcoming barriers in tenant-occupied housing.

4:00p: Reception

EVENT:	Second Annual Symposium for the MIT Energy Efficiency Strategy Project
WHEN:	April 29, 2011
WHERE:	MIT, 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge, Room 34-101

Please join Harvey Michaels and the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning for a three-hour symposium on innovative approaches to community energy efficiency. For the past nine months, more than fifteen MIT and Tufts students have been actively collaborating on thesis, dissertation, and funded research on breakthrough strategies that enable large-scale energy efficiency. Symposium participants include students from MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the Engineering Systems Division, the Community Innovators Lab, and the Tufts School of Urban and Environmental Policy.

We will be discussing: Community-based strategies to increase retrofit rates, while maximizing workforce and social benefits; Community-enabled commercial and institutional program models, including Envision Charlotte; Energy benchmarking and information-feedback systems that improve programs; and Ordinances that promote building upgrades, such as the Massachusetts Green Communities Program.

Event is free and open to the public, so please join us!

Schedule of Presentation Topics:

12:00 - 12:15: Lunch & Welcome
Introduction by Harvey Michaels, Principal Investigator and Energy Efficiency Lecturer

12:15 - 1:00: Partnering with Communities to Scale Up Efficiency

Erin Brandt	Differentiating Between Community Efficiency Programs in Massachusetts
Rob Crauderueff	Depatrment of Energy, Better Buildings, and Greensboro, NC
Stephanie Stern	The Community Energy Services Model in Minneapolis, MN
Amy Stitely	Maintaining Mass Momentum: Life after the Stimulus

1:15 - 2:00: Information- and Data-Driven Targeting and Programs

Elena Alschuler Kat Donnelly	Information-Driven Behavior Change: Action Research in Charlotte, NC
Kate Goldstein	Quantitative Infrared Thermography for Large-Scale Targeted Retrofit of Residential Homes
Jeff Mekler	Democratizing Efficiency Delivery Through Disclosure
Lindsay Reul	Mass. Green Communities Program and Mass Energy Insight

2:15 - 3:00: Equity, Jobs, Government, and Mass Mobilization

Pat Coleman	Increasing Program Access for Renters
Ryan Hammond	Emerging Occupations in Energy Efficiency
Christopher Jones	Greening Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Brendan McEwen Nikhil Nadkarni Rosie Sherman	Developing an Engagement Plan for Dorchester, MA
Marcus Rozbitsky	Reaching Moderate Income Families
Brittany Zwicker	Using the IECC 2009 Energy Code to Unlock Residential Energy Efficiency in Kentucky