The Energy Coalition (TEC) was founded in 1975 by John Phillips to develop and manage energy cooperatives, collectives of building managers working together to reduce energy demand. As a pioneer and champion of energy efficiency long before it became part of mainstream business practices, TEC operated energy cooperatives in California, Chicago, Boston, New York, Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden.

In the early l980s, Phillips introduced the PEAK education curriculum, inspired by the idea that instilling the ethic of energy efficiency and energy conservation in school age children would empower them to be lifelong stewards of sustainable energy practices.  The PEAK Student Energy Actions program trains teachers in a hands on, science-based curriculum, aligned with State performance standards.  Today, TEC’s PEAK program reaches more than 50,000 primary and middle school students in California.

In 1994, TEC inaugurated the Aspen Accord, an energy policy forum in which local governments, utilities, regulators and energy experts collaborate to identify problems and propose solutions to pressing energy issues.  Aspen Accord continues to be a venue for participants to work together to address and resolve regional and statewide energy problems. Numerous innovative energy approaches such as the Regional Energy Efficiency Initiative, the Palm Desert Pilot Partnership which led to the creation of AB 811 and the idea for SCE’s Flight 5.6 allocation of local government funding for actions in support of the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan all emanated from Aspen Accord discussions.

TEC created the Regional Energy Efficiency Initiative (REEI) in 1995, which was the first local government and utility partnership program in California. Through this effort, TEC became the architect of local government and utility partnership programs working within communities  at the grassroots level to inform, educate and change the  behavior of energy end-users.

Current TEC initiatives include PEAK, the Community Energy Partnership which currently delivers energy efficiency programs in seven Southern California cities, the Palm Desert Partnership that will achieve a 30% reduction in citywide energy use by 2013, and Energy Upgrade California in Los Angeles County, the largest residential retrofit program in the nation.

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