Alliance 2010 Year-End Review

The Alliance accomplished a great deal in the year 2010. Read about how we advanced energy efficiency — from the biggest improvement ever in the U.S. national model energy codes to a new, consumer-focused website — in the "Alliance 2010 Year-End Review." Highlights of 2010 include:

Policy

• As a result of getting face-to-face with policymakers, the Policy Team helped ensure the creation and extension of key energy policies.
• In the last few weeks of the 111^th Congress, President Barack Obama signed the bill extending the energy efficient homes tax credit, the energy efficiency appliance manufacturing tax credit and the existing home energy efficiency improvement tax credit.

Communications

• Alliance energy-saving tips, tax credit and policy information, and other Alliance news appeared in more than 800 articles in newspapers and magazines; we also aired a series of videos on CBS’s 520-square foot jumbotron in New York City’s Times Square.
• The Alliance overhauled our main website and released LivingEfficiently.org, a consumer website that offers simple ways to save money in all the areas people live their lives: at home, at school, at work and on the go.

Buildings

• The International Code Council adopted a landmark national model energy code that boosts efficiency for residential and commercial buildings by 30 percent.  
• The Building Codes Assistance Project and its advocacy efforts helped nearly triple the number of states that meet or exceed energy savings of the national model building codes.

Industry and Utilities

• The Industrial Team recruited 27 industrial companies, including 14 Alliance Associates, to voluntarily pledge a 25 percent reduction in energy intensity over a 10 year period under the Department of Energy’s Save Energy Now LEADER program. 
• The Alliance continued to assist utilities with their energy efficiency and renewable energy activities through the Clean and Efficient Energy Program, a joint effort of the Alliance, the American Public Power Association and Large Public Power Council.

International

• The Alliance promoted energy efficiency across the globe, particularly in the regions of Southeastern Europe, India, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific.
• We launched the European Alliance to Save Energy (EASE), which will co-host the 2011 EE Global Forum in Brussels, Belgium. 

Education

• Our Green Schools Program activities bloomed with over 200 participating schools and a slew of Energy Hog presentations, which help teachers bring energy education into the classroom. 
• Our Green Campus Program engaged over 75 college students on 16 university campuses, empowering Green Campus interns to save energy on campus, infuse energy efficiency concepts into academic curricula and build pathways to green careers. 

Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA)

• With a $20 million grant from the Department of Energy, SEEA established its Better Buildings Program, which is starting and expanding a variety of building retrofit programs in 12 cities across eight Southeastern states.
• SEEA also launched its Building Codes Program, making significant contributions to state and national conversations about energy codes implementation and enforcement. 

Events

• The Events Team hosted our third – and finest – Energy Efficiency Global Forum (EE Global), the largest international congregation of policymakers, innovators and other energy efficiency leaders.
• The “star-studded” event of the year was the 18th Annual Evening with the Stars of Energy Efficiency Awards Dinner, which hosted 500+ guests at the National Portrait Gallery and was the most well-attended awards dinner in the history of the Alliance.