We are proud when we look at the leaders of our Regional Energy Efficiency Organizations (REEOs), each led by incredible women who we want to honor this month and every month as they support and encourage clean energy policies, innovative technology adoption, energy equity, and the expansion of efficiency across our nation. We asked each of them to share their remarkable stories, shining a light on their unique backgrounds, barriers they have face, the driving factors behind their leadership and dedication to their organization and the environment. These are the women and faces of energy efficiency!
What are you most proud of in your role?
Since joining the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) as president last April, my experience has been a whirlwind of excitement and progress. I am extremely proud of the work our team is doing in partnership with our members, partners, and phenomenal Board of Directors to improve the lives of all people living in the Southeast through energy efficiency. I was drawn to service in the Southeast because of the high rate of energy insecurity across the region. Here, historic racist and economic inequities still shape energy and housing sectors and limit access to affordable power. Even though the Southeast has some of the lowest electrical rates in the contiguous U.S., we have the highest average electric bills, and 35% of all households (15.4 million) have experienced energy insecurity, the most of any region in the nation. I am especially proud of our work in addressing these disparities.
In 2020, the SEEA team developed an interactive StoryMap, Energy Insecurity in the South. The StoryMap has quickly become a leading regional and national resource that highlights the roots and dimensions of energy insecurity. We are partnering with the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute (TEPRI) again to create a first-of-its kind geospatial tool, the Energy Equity Inspector, which provides data and metrics that assess energy inequities at a granular level and the Energy Equity Action Planner to guide stakeholder engagement to address energy insecurity. This year we are excited to begin a three-year project that cultivates new workforce champions for advanced building technologies and opens new pathways for consumers to engage with, learn about, and ultimately adopt advanced energy technologies.
What has been your biggest challenge in your career?
My biggest challenge was also one of the most significant moments and greatest opportunities of my career. Hands down, it would be transitioning to the energy field. I had to learn an entirely foreign language and industry, build trust with colleagues, partners, and a new team while developing, running, and funding programs. I believe that true transformation occurs when you’re most uncomfortable. It was a time of real metamorphosis and now I get to fly!
Who has been most influential to you and why?
My mother is the greatest influence in my life. She immigrated to the United States as a young child and had to overcome difficult and unimaginable barriers, much more difficult than mastering the energy efficiency vernacular! She taught me everything I know about strength, courage, tenacity, perseverance, and hope. She also instilled in me the sense that I could be or do anything. She taught me that my yesterday does not dictate my tomorrow. She is why I am the person I am today and why I have achieved so much.
What drives you every day in your work?
According to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), southern states have the largest potential savings from energy efficiency. I am driven by the knowledge that the residential sector in the Southeast offers the greatest potential energy savings through energy efficiency. I am fortunate to have the tools to effectuate change and have real impact across the Southeast and the nation. We know that energy efficiency and efficient energy technologies can reduce energy burden and lift folks out of poverty. I grew up experiencing energy insecurity, and this first-hand knowledge propels me to work hard to decrease energy burdens and increase energy security for all. It’s easy to be passionate about energy efficiency since it is a tool that can directly enhance life for everyone, everywhere.
What energy tip would you share with your younger self?
A tip I would share with all young people is that while it’s easy to get excited about new, emerging energy sources (and we should!), resist the temptation to overlook efficiency as the starting point for all energy policy. An ACEEE stat that I think paints the picture particularly well for the impact efficiency can have in this world is: Energy efficiency alone can cut U.S. energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by about 50% by 2050, getting us halfway to our national climate goals. And the savings would be worth $700 billion (in 2050).
What are you most proud of in your role?
While I’m only one year into my role as Executive Director of the REEO covering the southwest United States – the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project or SWEEP – it was a fantastic year as we were celebrating our 20th anniversary, as well as honoring Howard Geller, SWEEP’s founder and former director. It was inspiring to learn more about the impressive list of accomplishments the organization had amassed over the past two decades (for which I can take no credit). Of particular note, due in large part to SWEEP’s advocacy efforts, funding for electric utility energy efficiency and demand-side management programs in the region grew from about $21 million per year in 2001 to $375 million annually in 2020. This funding helped quadruple annual energy savings and drive over $7.5 billion in financial savings for households and businesses in just the last decade alone. I’m proud to get to be a part of such an impactful organization, and it’s a privilege to get to work with such an outstanding group of smart, dedicated staff.
How did you end up in the energy industry?
I’m actually a relatively new entrant to the energy industry field. My passion and background are in environmental protection, and I arrived at SWEEP after nearly 30 years of environmental advocacy and policymaking. My career started in the nation’s capital where I witnessed firsthand legislative sausage-making at the federal level, working first as a lobbyist for a national conservation organization and then as a senior environmental staffer for an Oregon congresswoman. My love of the mountains then took me back to Colorado where I worked at the state level, directing a major statewide conservation advocacy organization for 13 years, spending many long hours lobbying state lawmakers and agencies on a range of energy and other environmental issues. Curious to try my hand at fostering change from the local level, I next ran for public office, serving as a county commissioner for two terms, where I focused on sustainability, climate mitigation and resilience, and equity issues, while helping my community recover from numerous climate-driven flood and wildfire disasters. Driven by concern over the accelerating climate crisis and the devastating impacts it’s wreaking locally and globally, I decided to return to the nonprofit sector, choosing SWEEP as an ideal team with which I could advocate for equitable and impactful climate solutions.
Who has been most influential to you and why?
My parents were educators – a professor of theology and a high school librarian – who were catalyzed by the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War to actualize their beliefs in social justice and doing their part to make the world a better place. So, when I was six years old, they moved our family to a low-income neighborhood in inner city Kansas City, Missouri, so they could do community organizing around the issues of racism, poverty, and women’s rights. All my life I have been inspired by their commitment to the causes they believed in and the values they instilled in me and my four sisters about our collective obligation to give back to the community and apply our life’s passion to something larger than ourselves.
What drives you every day in your work?
Living in the beautiful but arid Southwest, the impacts of the changing climate are painfully evident on a daily basis. The past seven years have been the hottest in recorded history. We’re in the midst of the worst megadrought in 1200 years. Our beloved mountain snowpack is shrinking, leaving fewer skiable days and lower river levels. And just a few months ago, in the middle of winter, the worst wildfire in Colorado’s history tore through suburban neighborhoods 10 miles from my house, destroying nearly 1,100 homes in just a handful of hours. This is what drives me — knowing that these heat waves, drought, wildfires and extreme weather disasters will be the new normal for my daughter and generations to come if we don’t do our part to forge a cleaner, more efficient energy future for the world, as quickly and boldly as we possibly can.
How did you end up in the energy industry?
I came to energy via a happy detour from real estate development and sustainability. After I finished my graduate studies in City Planning and Real Estate Development, I was working on the redevelopment of a huge early 20th century brick mill building in Massachusetts. We aspired to be a green development, and the owner assigned me to figure out what that meant. I asked a lot of questions and quickly found my way to energy use, and discovered that the foundation of being a green development was becoming an energy efficient one. That became my passion, figuring out how buildings – particularly older buildings – could contribute to mitigating climate change and to the health and prosperity of communities. This passion took me from that development job, to working on energy efficiency in a global nonprofit, to running energy programs and policy in state and federal government, and eventually to NEEP!
What drives you every day in your work?
We have a lot of work to do to slow and to be ready for climate change and to realize an equitable clean energy transition, and that can be overwhelming. But I love building and I am still motivated every day by the belief that the built environment is the solution, rather than a problem to be solved. I can see a future where our homes and buildings are healthy, affordable, resilient, and flexible resources to the clean energy system, and that’s a vision that motivates me.
What are you most proud of in your role?
I’ve just passed my one-year anniversary at NEEP, and I am most proud of and thankful for the team at NEEP. NEEP has not only weathered, but has thrived, through the pandemic. Before I joined NEEP, the organization had successfully pivoted to effective remote collaboration with each other and with existing and new partners. The pandemic has even given us some opportunities, for example, we have been able grow our team with experts from around our region and now have staff based in three states. I am also extremely proud of the region that NEEP represents. States across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic continue to prioritize energy efficiency as they pursue decarbonization. We are having hard conversations – how can decarbonization be pursued equitably in a way that prioritizes the most burdened communities – and investment in and commitment to energy efficiency continue to be fundamental to the answers.
What energy tip would you share with your younger self?
Learn to love broccoli, and in this case, broccoli is energy efficiency. We’ve all heard the comparison between energy efficiency and the boring, nutritious part of the plate, but it is remarkable that as the demands and complexity of the clean energy transition evolve, efficiency continues to deliver new benefits and value. Want to save money? Efficiency! Reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Efficiency! Improve health outcomes and bring dignity and security to burdened households? Efficiency! Develop a skilled, well-paid local workforce? Efficiency! Empower consumers and unlock new business models? Efficiency! Efficiency! Efficiency!
How did you end up in the energy industry?
I was working for a consulting firm that lobbied for more efficiency in Texas while I was working toward my bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. I left the industry to pursue a career as a Parole Officer and was back in the energy efficiency industry within two years. I went back to that same consulting firm and worked on a variety of projects both here in Texas and California. This was when I really learned so much about our industry. I still worked for that firm when we designed and started SPEER.
What are you most proud of in your role?
Since moving into the Acting Executive Director role at the South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER) it has been hasty. I am incredibly proud of the work our team is doing in partnership with other REEO’s, members, funders, and the industry. I have worked for SPEER since its inception and spent my years working in every position within the organization to learn the ins and outs of a non-profit. I then returned to school to obtain my master’s in Non-Profit Management and Leadership two weeks after my second child was born. I am proud to say that I have worked very hard to earn the position I am in with SPEER and with the other wonderful women who run the REEO’s. I am delighted with the team at SPEER and our success in emerging from the pandemic, both with member retention and in recreating and expanding the work of energy efficiency adoption in Texas and Oklahoma. Currently, we have the most paramount team we have had yet, and we are reaching more people and engaging more of the industry than we ever have before! This is in no small part due to the team we have created here at SPEER.
What energy tip would you share with your younger self?
I have always been committed to saving energy, but my younger self was more committed to the money savings than the effect of the reduction in energy use would have on our climate. I would educate myself on the great need for efficiency, not only for the monthly savings on an electric bill, but the greater cause of climate action! While spending a little more on the more efficient HVAC unit or light bulbs or other items for my home many seem costly in the moment. I would also encourage my younger self to take my role in the industry much more seriously than I did in the beginning, while working toward my degree. I would tell her that one day she could be a leader in this space and education others on the importance of efficiency.
What drives you every day in your work?
I am a Texan, born and raised…I may have left for a couple years, but Texas has my heart. I want to create a good, healthy place for my children to grow up. I work hard every day to show my kids that hard work pays off and by working hard I am creating a little better place for us all to live in.
How did you end up in the energy industry?
I spent the first 15 years of my career in government relations and public affairs. I worked as a lobbyist at the city, state and federal levels always seemingly working for an industry that wasn’t popular with the party in power. I learned the importance of knowing your audience and understanding what they wanted to hear, not what I wanted to talk about. With that constant challenge I focused on policy victories that were achievable. Needless to say, those skills came in very handy when I started promoting energy efficiency in the very red Midwest. I found my way to MEEA through personal relationships, when I was making a career change to travel less when my boys were young a colleague recommended me to MEEA’s founder to help grow the organization.
What is one of the most significant moments in your career?
I’ve only been in energy world for 13 years, so I’ll answer based on that time. MEEA was cited by name and our research highlighted when Ohio Governor John Kasich vetoed legislation that would have halted the state’s energy efficiency standard. Pretty amazing moment for our staff, MEEA and our members.
What energy tip would you share with your younger self?
Insulation and building envelop is where we really have an impact – with energy savings and reduced costs, but also increased health benefits.
What are you most proud of in your role?
MEEA’s growth and reputation and the growth, understanding and appreciation of energy efficiency industry in the Midwest. I started at MEEA in 2008, since that time the organization has tripled in staff, members and budget and our conference has become one of the leading industry events in the country. As for the EE industry in the Midwest – the annual investment is just under $2B growing from only $443M in 2008. All those numbers are great, but honestly, what I’m most proud of is the former MEEA staff that now have substantial careers in this amazing industry. We have a network of people across the Midwest and the nation that appreciate and recognize the impact that MEEA has had on them personally and professionally.
What has been your biggest challenge in your career?
Conflicts between political advocacy, large business interests, and beneficial energy and environmental policy advancement have often derailed important initiatives in this industry. I have avoided political advocacy roles for this reason but have had to learn to navigate special interests and political posturing to make progress in advancing energy efficiency. The most recent example of this (among many) is the belief that renewable energy is the silver bullet and the need for energy efficiency is greatly diminished. We’ve learned before in this industry that putting all eggs in one basket (nuclear power) creates a risky and unbalanced portfolio. This is still a work in progress.
What are you most proud of in your role?
All of my roles in the energy industry have been directly or indirectly focused on the environment and the consumer. This work is never “done” but I feel that, over almost 5 decades, I have made inroads and progress in both. Examples:
What energy tip would you share with your younger self?
As a young analyst and as a regulator, I was focused on the numerical analysis of the benefits of conservation and energy efficiency. This was my focus. Now in the later part of my career I see that the stories we tell about efficiency are as important, or maybe more important, than the data and analysis. The stories need to consider human and environmental factors, neither of which is easy to quantify in research. And the stories need to come from trusted sources to connect with those we are trying to reach.
What is one of the most significant moments in your career?
I have been deeply involved in two initiatives that created statewide energy efficiency programs in two states. Both initiatives were part of a greater bargain with utilities and customers and resulted in a clear win for customers. Today, one of the programs survives as Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy program.
Who has been most influential to you and why?
There are two people among many who stand out, both of whom have passed. Art Rosenfeld, in 1973 turned his academic physics training into a lifelong quest to create an industry around energy efficiency. His presence at every major efficiency gathering up until his death in 2017 supported and prodded all of us to do what needed to be done. The second is Wisconsin Public Service Commission Chair, Mary Lou Munts, who hired me as the Chief Economist for the agency. I marveled at her quick intellect, pace of decisive decision making, and the gift of giving me immediate and direct feedback when I didn’t meet her expectations. I learned to keep pace with her and how to navigate policy and politics both locally and nationally. She was also a champion of women and made sure that the well qualified women at the Commission advanced to leadership positions.
Photo credit: Climate Central A recent study exposed that Texas leads the country with the most…
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