612,000 Acres of Wilderness Added in Colorado

Working for U.S. Senator Timothy E. Wirth and the Sierra Club, Mr. Burmeister helped lead the state effort to incorporate a wilderness resolution into both Republican and Democratic caucus processes in Colorado. The resolution ultimately resulted in the addition of 612,000 acres within 19 designated areas within the National Forests and public lands of Colorado to the National Wilderness Preservation System via H.R. 631, the "Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993."

Building Electrification Policy Leadership in California

CEG was hired to research and compile an exhaustive list of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction strategies and Best Practices available through local and state buildings and codes and standards policies and an implementation timeline for making many of them a reality in the Southern California Edison (SCE) Company service territory in California. To their credit, SCE is independently pursuing strategies to reduce GHGs and as part of a new state focus.

1997 Environmental Inaugural Ball Organizer for President Bill Clinton’s Reelection

Along with Burl Haigwood and the late Marine hero, Captain Bill Holmberg, Mr. Burmeister was one of the three primary organizers behind the successful January 1997 Environmental Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown’s Sequoia Restaurant on the Potomac. The event was held for President Clinton’s reelection in 1996 and was attended by more than 1,000 guests, including 40 members of Congress and four Cabinet members.

Establishment of the first South Carolina State Energy Office, and State Energy Plan

Mr. Burmeister testified in front of two South Carolina legislative committees and subsequently worked with the Governor’s office on the enabling legislation for the state’s first formal State Energy Office (SEO), and their first State Energy Plan in 1992. By 2020, the SEO had helped individuals and businesses accumulate more than $700 million in estimated energy savings.

Jobs Created Through the EECBG

Working with Congressional staff CEG helped create the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program in 2008. When no appropriations could be found for it that year, CEG and others recommended that it be included in President Obama’s 2009 Stimulus Package. It made it into the Stimulus Package and as a result more than $3.2 billion was sent to state and local governments for clean energy work via the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). CEG later also wrote the first EECBG Communications Plan and served as a technical expert for EERE to show local governments how and where the money should be spent.

Public Service Energy Leadership Award from Johnson Controls

In recognition of his book, Energy Management and Conservation (1992) which identified local and state government energy-saving programs implemented since the 1973 oil embargo, Mr. Burmeister won a national Public Service award from Johnson Controls. During the award ceremony, George shared a table with U.S. Senator John Glenn, who had won the Congressional Award that year for his work on federal energy efficiency.

1988 Through Today…National Climate Policy Expert

Working for the Urban Consortium Energy Task Force and dozens of their members in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Burmeister became one of the leading authors and experts on local government Climate Change Action Plans (CCAPs). He was later brought to Washington, D.C. to write similar plans for states and the federal government, and paid to serve as a technical expert to local governments across the U.S. He continues to contribute to local government climate action plans regularly.

Influenced 37 State Energy Strategies

In the 1990s Mr. Burmeister personally contributed to 37 State Energy Strategies, usually by testifying to State Legislatures about the economic and environmental benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Notable states that acted on his testimony include Texas, South Carolina, Michigan, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California.

Planting Important Seeds for State Wind Legislation…Texas

While working for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) in the early 1990s, Mr. Burmeister lead wind farm tours in California. Mr. Burmeister would travel to California with key state legislative energy committee leaders and introduce them to the wind industry companies and the facilities they managed. These state legislators would later return to their home states with this new education and write wind and solar legislation that changed their energy landscapes forever. For example, Texas State Senator Bill Simms, a Natural Resources Committee Chair and Environment Committee Interim Chair accompanied George to California on one of these tours. George later helped Senator Simms promote wind energy policy and legislation.

Created and Implemented the First Statewide, Above-Code “Reach Code Program” for New Residential Construction in the U.S.

Working with Rob Hammon and others in California in 1999, Mr. Burmeister designed the first ever statewide, above-code, reach code program for new residential construction in the U.S. The successful program, the Community Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP) went on to be adopted and funded by all California investor owned utilities (IOUs) and it ran through 2007. Through the program governments provided dozens of monetary and non-monetary benefits to builders in return for building at least 30-percent above the (already high) minimum energy code in California. Mr. Burmeister personally signed up 121 local California governments to the program during those eight years. This was the first program of its kind, and is the program that helped launch hundreds of similar programs across the U.S.

Customer Service Champion

Mr. Burmeister led and helped design the first ever Customer Service Initiative within the U.S. Department of Energy, resulting in customer service focus training for more than 2,000 employees.

Political Appointments…Both Sides of the Aisle

Mr. Burmeister served as a senior Political Appointee within the Clinton Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy between 1992 and 1996. He was brought in as the national expert on state and local Climate Change Action Plans (CCAPs). Mr. Burmeister was appointed Communications Director for the State Energy Advisory Board (STEAB) by the Bush Administration in 2002.