The Colorado Energy Group (CEG) is led by its President George Burmeister. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, CEG was founded in 1997 in Washington, DC. CEG has satellite offices in Sacramento, CA and Washington, DC.
The Colorado Energy Group is a customer-focused leading energy advisor to governments, homebuilders, developers, utilities and energy efficiency and renewable energy technology providers and suppliers. We are known for our green job development expertise and our strong emphasis on market-based solutions and for inspiring elected and senior career government officials to take extraordinary steps toward more sustainable policies and practices.
Mr. Burmeister is respected on both sides of the aisle, having served as a senior political appointee for U.S. President Bill Clinton between 1993 and 1996, and later serving as Communications Director of the Congressionally- created State Energy Advisory Board (STEAB) for the Bush Administration between 2002 and 2004. STEAB provides energy budget guidance to the Administration and Congress.
In 2005, Mr. Burmeister wrote and helped pass his 100th major energy efficiency and/or renewable energy initiative at the local or state government level since 1988—a green building resolution for the City of Commerce, California. Mr. Burmeister has testified or been asked to speak formally about the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy in more than 37 states.
California’s major investor-owned utilities hired Mr. Burmeister between 1999 and 2007 to serve as informal energy staff to more than 120 of the busiest and fastest-growing local governments in California. In addition to helping them with green building and new residential construction issues, he advised these local governments and others on energy assurance, energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy security and critical infrastructure protection (CIP) issues. He continues to advise many of these governments.
After his political appointment in the Clinton Administration and prior to leaving Washington, Mr. Burmeister served as Policy Director of the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and Executive Director of Americans for Clean Energy (aka "the Solar Lobby") in Washington before returning home to Colorado in 1999. He helped manage the Energy Program at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) for three years before that, worked for U.S. Senator Timothy E. Wirth (D, CO), was State Political Director for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club, and he worked in private sector sales for a West German firm for seven years before that, working out of Breckenridge, Colorado. He has a BA in Environmental Studies with a Minor in Business Administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas (1981), and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Colorado (1989). He was voted Outstanding Masters Student by the faculty in 1989, and was one of only two students in his graduate program to Graduate with Distinction (Honors).
Recent Work
- George was the lead author for Local Government Energy Assurance Guidelines, Version II (September 2011) available at http://www.energyassurance.us/index.php/leap/inside/C7.
- George wrote and co-produced two energy films over the past year. You can find both films at http://vimeo.com/28913409.
- George is working for the U.S. Department of Energy through the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) on the Home Energy Upgrade Initiative (aka the Workforce Guidelines Project) and is responsible for motivating utilities and States to increase their efforts across home performance training programs.
- George wrote a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES) "Best Practices" report for the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) in late 2011.
- Along with ICF and PTI, CEG won a $3 million, two year energy assurance project through the California Energy Commission (CEC).
- Most of George’s time in 2011 was spent as a Green Job Developer on behalf of the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) on an $8 million U.S. Department of Labor-funded project. He helped manage the project, and was responsible for finding solar, wind, and energy efficiency jobs for the unemployed in Ohio, Arizona and Texas.
