Policy and Best Practice Resources

Tools by Topic

U.S. EPA Report, “Clean Energy Options for Addressing High Electric Demand Days”

EPA's Clean Energy Environment State Program recently published a report that summarizes best practices for cross-cutting policies that promote the adoption of clean energy technologies that can reduce the air emissions from electric generators in High Electric Demand Days. This report provides detailed information on targeted policies and programs that promote energy efficiency, demand response, and clean DG technologies that could be employed to deliver significant reductions in air emissions, especially NOx, from electric generators on high electric demand days.

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/HEDD_clean_energy_options.pdf (PDF) (73 pp., 956K, About PDF)

U.S. EPA Report, “Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action: Policies, Best Practices, and Action Steps for States”

The Guide to Action is a first-of-its-kind compendium that details the experience states have had with 16 cost-effective clean energy policies and strategies in meeting state energy, environmental, and economic objectives. EPA developed the Guide to Action to help states learn from each other as they develop their own clean energy programs and policies. The Guide to Action is part of a package of planning, policy, technical, analytical, and information resources EPA provides to help members of its Climate and Energy State Partnership and other state and local governments establish and implement sound Climate and Energy State Action Plans.

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/state-and-local/state-best-practices.html

National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency Report

This document, developed by stakeholders to the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, summarizes utility sector best-practices and policy approaches. It identifies and describes a range of program types for all customer classes, and describes best-practice options in the areas of measurement and evaluation, cost-effectiveness tests, policy approaches, stakeholder involvement, project management, and internal organizational structure. Each of these factors is considered in the context of emerging, intermediate, and mature programs, as well as for the purpose of targeting customer niches.

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/napee/index.html

State Climate and Energy Technical Forum

EPA’s Technical Forum conference calls provide a venue for exploring analytical questions and resolving key issues surrounding state clean energy efforts. Organized as a monthly discussion among state energy, environmental and public utility commission officials, the Technical Forum features peer exchanges, expert presentations and targeted technical assistance. For each call, state experts describe their clean energy initiatives, lessons learned, and barriers to success.

http://www.keystone.org/Public_Policy/stateClean-energy.html

Environmental Innovation Portfolio

The EPA’s National Center for Environmental Innovation (NCEI) created the Environmental Innovation Portfolio in recognition of the challenge that state and federal environmental managers face in finding effective new approaches in today’s regulatory programs. This document is designed to: 1) categorize the types of strategies that environmental agencies can use to reap better results; 2) highlight promising projects as examples of approaches that can be adopted or adapted; and 3) promote networking among people working on similar problems who can benefit from shared experiences.

http://www.epa.gov/innovation/portfolio/

EPA Guidance Documents on Integrating Energy and Environmental Programs

Under EPA policy and guidance, states can incorporate EE/RE measures into their State Implementation Plan (SIP) for air quality, provided certain criteria are met. The EPA guidance documents on this Web site describe the criteria for EE/RE measures and how states can meet them. These materials provide state and local energy and air quality officials with information on how to incorporate EE/RE measures into air quality plans, or as a set-aside under cap-and-trade programs.

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/state-and-local/state-best-practices.html

Supplemental Environmental Projects Toolkit

EPA’s toolkit helps state and local governments pursue clean energy projects through enforcement settlements. The toolkit starts with the basics, describing the process by which violators voluntarily agree to undertake Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) as a means of offsetting a portion of their monetary penalty. It then focuses on how state and local agencies can use SEPs to promote new renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. In addition, the toolkit provides case studies of how SEPs have been used to support clean energy projects, offers additional ideas for projects, and includes a step-by-step regulatory “road map” for pursuing SEPs.

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/documents/sep_toolkit.pdf (PDF) (66 pp., 1.9M, About PDF)

“Lead by Example” Guidebook and Tracking Tool

EPA is currently developing a “Lead by Example” (LBE) guidebook and tracking tool that will identify opportunities for states to achieve energy savings and promote the development of clean energy supply within state facilities, operations, and vehicle fleets. The guidebook and tracking tool are being developed to provide support to states interested in analyzing, prioritizing, and tracking progress of their clean energy initiatives.

Contact Jeffrey Brown (brown.jeffrey@epa.gov)

NEEP Report, “The Need for and Approaches to Developing Common Protocols to Measure, Verify and Report Energy Efficiency Savings in the Northeast”

With funding from EPA, the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership developed this report to address: 1) The specific policy needs for common protocols to measure, verify and report energy savings in the Northeast; 2) The level of transparency and consistency in existing M&V protocols and economic frameworks used in the Northeast states; and 3) Lessons to learn from experience with M&V protocols in other states and regions of the country.

http://www.neep.org/files/Protocols_report.pdf (PDF) (66 pp., 928K, About PDF)

International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP)

The IPMVP is an industry-standard protocol for measuring and verifying energy savings. It is a broad framework that outlines a flexible and broad set of measurement and verification approaches for evaluating energy savings in buildings. Specific techniques are designed to match project costs and savings requirements with particular efficiency measures and technologies. Each option is applicable to different programs and projects based on factors such as the complexity of the efficiency measures under evaluation and the risk expectations. Accordingly, each option varies in accuracy and cost of implementation, as well as strengths and limitations.

http://www.evo-world.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=80

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