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Description and History

Description

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) is a regional membership organization comprised of engineers, educators, builders, students, energy experts, environmental activists, transportation planners, architects, and other citizens interested in responsible energy use. Our overarching goal is to bring clean electricity, green transportation, and healthy, efficient buildings into everyday use in order to strengthen the economy and improve the environment. Our programs and activities focus on the northeastern United States (from Washington, DC to Maine).

Currently, NESEA's largest programs focus on:

• Buildings - conferences and workshops for professionals, as well as outreach to the general public.
• K-12 Education - especially on sustainable transportation and solar energy.
• Transportation - most notably, the annual Tour de Sol, the Great American Green Transportation Festival.

In addition, NESEA has developed the Greenfield Energy Park, a unique resource in our home town. Here, we offer a variety of activities for the general public and school classes.  

All of our work relates directly, or indirectly, to our desire to promote renewable energy. We also carry out some additional activities on this topic that don't fit into any of the categories above.

We welcome anyone interested in a cleaner, safer environment to join us and become part of our community of supporters. If you do, you will find many opportunities to learn, to promote clean energy, and to gain new friends and colleagues.

History

NESEA was formed in 1974 in the middle of an energy crisis when oil was in short supply and gas prices skyrocketed. A group of builders, architects, engineers, and homeowners decided to band together to design and construct solar buildings-ones that required little or no oil or other fossil fuels. They called themselves the New England Solar Energy Association. They held monthly luncheon meetings at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as workshops for builders and homeowners on such topics as solar water heaters. Even in its earliest years, NESEA organized major regional conferences and published a newsletter to serve as a networking medium for people interested in technological developments, market trends, and government policies related to energy consumption.

In 1985, the New England group joined with similar groups that had started in metropolitan New York and elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic states. The new combined organized retained the NESEA acronym, but it now stood for the Northeast Solar Energy Association and embraced the entire region from Maine to Washington, DC.

During the 1980s, NESEA expanded its agenda and outreach beyond its initial solar design focus to include energy-efficient, quality building construction and transportation issues. The first annual NESEA American Tour de Sol (a solar and electric car demonstration and championship) traveled from Montpelier, Vermont to Boston, Massachusetts in 1989. To reflect NESEA's broadened agenda, the organization again changed its name-to the current Northeast Sustainable Energy Association-but again the acronym remained the same.        

In 1994, NESEA moved to its current headquarters, a former railroad administration building in the center of Greenfield, Massachusetts. When taking over the building, the organization made a commitment to create a community park and educational greenspace on the land adjacent to the building. The resulting Greenfield Energy Park opened five years later.

Read about the people who helped form NESEA in the Northeast Sun article "NESEA Pioneers."