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The US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service engaged the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and Resource Innovation Institute (RII) in April 2021 to initiate the three-year Conservation Innovation Grant project entitled Data-Driven Market Transformation for Efficient, Sustainable Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).
| Controlled Environment Agriculture - Utility Best Practices Guide Launch Slide Deck (13.9 MB) | Download | ||
Jennifer Thorne Amann is the Buildings Program Director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Since joining ACEEE in 1997, she has authored dozens of publications and articles on buildings and equipment efficiency technologies, policies, and programs. Jennifer leads content development for ACEEE’s consumer-focused website, smarterhouse.org.
Her current work focuses on maximizing energy savings from key buildings policies including building codes and appliance standards, scaling up retrofit activity in homes and commercial buildings with an emphasis on deep retrofits, expanding opportunities for energy savings in low-income and multifamily housing, and analyzing new opportunities for energy efficiency in the buildings sector. Jennifer brings to ACEEE several years’ experience in the environmental technology field and has experience in community organizing and education on a variety of environmental and consumer issues.
Jennifer serves on the Board of Directors of the Attachments Energy Rating Council and the Resource Innovation Institute. She is an NCQLP Lighting Certified Professional. Jennifer earned a Master of Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Trinity University
Evan Gutierrez, Ph.D. is a Lead Research Analyst with TRC Companies- a global consulting, engineering, and construction management firm that provides environmentally focused and digitally powered solutions. His recent work for utilities across the country has focused on program design and development- with a particular interest in controlled environment agriculture, strategic energy management, and demand response. His background is rooted in sustainability analysis and planning at the neighborhood scale. Evan’s goal is to apply innovative methodologies, technologies, and datasets to inform the sustainable development of a region, its stakeholders, and its businesses. In his spare time, Evan enjoys snowboarding and hiking the wonders of Washington with his family.
Lauren Morlino is an Emerging Technologies and Services Manager at Efficiency Vermont, the statewide energy efficiency utility. Lauren researches and prototypes exciting, innovative, and efficient technologies and services for Vermont ratepayers. During her last seven years at Efficiency Vermont, Lauren has researched and designed initiatives for lighting, controls, refrigeration, consumer electronics, and controlled environment agriculture (CEA). She is an external advisor for VEIC on customer-centric program design and controlled environment agriculture, and has published papers on several emerging technologies. Lauren has presented at national conferences including ACEEE, AESP, DesignLights Consortium, DOE Better Buildings Summit, HortiCann Light + Tech, Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions, and Esource.
Jeannie Leggett Sikora’s career in energy efficiency spans the agricultural, residential, and industrial sectors. Her main responsibilities at CLEAResult include serving as an agricultural subject matter expert, measuring and verifying savings for efficiency programs, and consulting on utility energy efficiency program design. Prior to joining CLEAResult, she worked in university cooperative extension on various farm and food processing energy issues, conducted research and outreach for the home building industry, and operated a consulting business. Ms. Sikora holds an M.S. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Penn State, is an author of two home building books, and resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.