NEEA Celebrates 2019 Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award Recipients

In December, the Board of Directors of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance honored the winners of the 2019 Leadership in Energy Efficiency Awards at an event in downtown Portland.

The awards recognize individuals and teams for their outstanding collaboration, innovative solutions, and significant contributions to advancing energy efficiency in the Northwest. A panel of Northwest energy and utility leaders selected the winners from more than 30 nominations submitted by the regional energy efficiency community.

The Seattle Tune-Up Accelerator Program was recognized with the Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award for Innovation. This program is a new model to help existing buildings achieve energy savings and cost-effectively meet state and city climate and energy policies.

The City of Seattle Office of Sustainability team led by Nicole Ballinger and Sandra Mallory, the Seattle City Light team led by Joe Fernandi, Ted Brown and Rose Palomo, along with technical support from the University of Washington Integrated Design Lab team led by Chris Meek, envisioned and implemented the Tune-up Accelerator program. Additional local partners included Srinivas Katipamula and Nora Wang with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Brittany Price Quigley with the Smart Buildings Center.

The Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award for Collaboration was awarded to the Consumer Products Steering Committee, a coordinated effort among Northwest utilities, NEEA and other regional energy efficiency organizations to establish shared regional strategies to advance energy efficiency in the consumer products market.

The contributors to this team are: Cathy Anderson (Snohomish PUD), Matt Babbitts (Clark PUD), Victor Couto (Seattle City Light), Todd Greenwell (Idaho Power), Tina Jayaweera (Northwest Power and Conservation Council), Josh Mitchell (Chelan PUD), Jeff Mitchell (NEEA staff), Dave Murphy (Bonneville Power Administration), Hillary Olson (Snohomish PUD), Lis Saunders (Tacoma Power), Jeff Tripp (Puget Sound Energy), Thad Roth (Energy Trust), and Patrick Weaver (Puget Sound Energy).

Two individuals were honored this year with the Tom Eckman Lifetime Achievement Award for their lifetime service:

• Charlie Grist of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, for his leadership on multiple numerous regional collaborative efforts, both with the State of Oregon and at the Council, where he has served since 2002. Charlie currently leads the development of the region’s conservation potential assessment for the regional power planning process.
• Dick Stroh of the Bonneville Power Administration, for his commitment to customer service and energy efficiency during his 40-year tenure with the agency. Dick has dedicated his career to bringing cutting-edge energy efficiency solutions to utilities and irrigation districts across Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Nevada and to developing his team of engineers into the next generation of efficiency experts in the Northwest.

“We are fortunate in the Northwest to have not only some of nation’s foremost experts in energy efficiency, but also a new generation in the industry that is bringing forward new, innovative ideas and collaborating across multiple organizations to advance efficiency,” stated Susan E. Stratton, NEEA’s executive director.