consultation with the NESEA Board of Directors, I decided to cancel NESEA's Sustainability Workshop Series for Spring 2010. Although this was a difficult decision, I am confident that it will ultimately make NESEA stronger. The workshop series, in its most recent incarnation, simply did not reach enough people for us to claim that it truly furthered NESEA's mission: to advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment. Although the content of the workshops was exceptional, essentially they remained a well-kept secret.
As many of you are aware, we are in the midst of creating a new strategic plan for NESEA. This plan will likely involve a re-look at the workshop series to help us leverage what NESEA does best, and to do it in a way that makes economic sense. More specifically, before offering another workshop series, we will examine issues such as:
* How to model the workshops after the best workshops we offer at BuildingEnergy, and perhaps to rebrand them as "BuildingEnergy on the Road;"
* Whether we should develop our own curriculum and accreditation program in order to market them more effectively; and
* Whether we can use the workshops to create opportunities to conven the NESEA community in ways that replicate the look and feel of BuildingEnergy.
In the meantime, I would like to recognize the contribution of Pamela J. Lester in launching the Sustainability Workshop Series. Pam did a great job in helping to identify new potential partnerships for the series. We wish her the best and will miss her!
Two workshops in the series will still be held - on April 30th, Paul Eldrenkamp and Mike Duclos will present a workshop on Deep Energy Retrofit at WMECO's Work Center in Hadley, MA (free of charge!), and on May 15th, Paul Eldrenkamp and Mike Duclos will present a workshop on Passive House at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. Click on Sustainability Workshop and Schedule for more information on both of these opportunities.