On April 17, 2012, more than 75 state energy office staff, public utility commissioners, utility staff, code officials and other energy code stakeholders learned about how to create an Energy Codes Collaborative during a webinar co-sponsored by BCAP. the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), K energy, and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA).
BCAP’s Maria Ellingson described their work in 18 states to document the current status of energy code activity, from which the Energy Codes Collaboratives emerged as a best practice. Ken Baker, founder of K energy, provided details on Idaho’s Collaborative, which has successfully advocated for four statewide code adoptions, and now supports statewide education and training. The webinar taught participants how to create an Energy Code Collaborative for their own state. Several states, such as Idaho and Delaware, are using this model to increase energy code adoption and compliance.
Bahareh Van Boekhold, Energy Efficiency Planner at the Delaware Division of Clean Energy and Climate, described Delaware’s recent experience with forming a Collaborative. At the end of the webinar, the presenters answered questions about a Collaborative’s typical budget, meeting frequency, group composition, and role in code adoption.