The NWRG is a working group of researchers, evaluators, and planners from the region's energy efficiency partnering organizations, including NEEA, the Council, and NEEA's funding organizations, that convenes quarterly to:
- Identify and prioritize shared knowledge gaps that imply emergent research needs.
- Where research needs overlap, create an action plan for resourcing – including identifying funding – initiating and managing research and socializing results of the research.
- Consider opportunities to use new and/or innovative approaches to research.
- Spend a measured amount of time toward the end of each meeting discussing individual research projects in the planning, fielding and reporting stages. There are multiple goals of these discussions, including: to share out the status of studies and clarify the expected timeline for results; to share interesting methods and results; and to ask for input or experiences with challenging research questions around methodology and other aspects of research design. The discussions can also be used to identify shared needs for further research, or other opportunities to collaborate or learn more about upcoming study results.