Häly Laasme

Energy Assistance Director at the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS).

She oversees the development, implementation, and management of the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and other low-income energy assistance projects for the State.

Häly is also a Bloomberg Fellow in Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health, with the emphasis on the Environmental Challenges. She focuses on solving multidimensional challenges of energy access in human security by examining the dynamics between social determinants of health and energy access and assessing the impacts of environmental challenges on path dependence, equity and justice.

Häly has been instrumental in raising awareness of critical issues in national and global energy access and played a key role in introducing terms like “energy poverty” into federal discussions. Her dedication and commitment to public service, passion for collaboration, capacity to vision the future needs of energy access have not only benefited communities of the United States but also the global society. In recognition of her efforts, she received the Edward G. Gingold Award from the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition (NEUAC) in 2023 and was named the Top 500 Global Sustainability Thought Leaders by the American Energy Society (AES) in 2021.

Since 2020, she has distinguished herself in the area of advocacy for energy access by speaking out for those less fortunate in the Board of the NEUAC. She served a 6-year term as the Northeast Regional Representative in the Board of Directors of the National Energy Assistance Director’s Association (NEADA) and several years in the Executive Committee of the Energy Services Coalition (ESC). Additionally, she is serving in the XXIII Estonian-American National Council, a central Estonian-American organization in the U.S. since 1952.