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Browse key issues that many residential energy efficiency programs need to address. Select a topic below to see related resources, including case studies, presentations, tools, calculators, templates, and more.

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Impact evaluations are the traditional approach to verifying program energy savings because they measure actual reductions in consumption by a residential energy efficiency program’s participants. Formal impact evaluations seek to isolate the attributable impacts of a program’s efforts by adjusting for weather differences and independent forces by comparison with a control group.

Incentives are tools to motivate potential or current customers or stakeholders to take a prescribed action by lowering risk and decreasing upfront costs. The incentive can be financial (e.g., rebates, limited-time offers, special interest rates) or non-financial (e.g., public recognition, prizes, awards).

Information Technology (IT) systems help program administrators efficiently and effectively track energy upgrade activities, workflow, and data involving customers, contractors, utility and financial partners, and other stakeholders. Program managers need to consider the pros and cons of buying or developing a data collection solution that will meet their specific needs for aggregating, analyzing, storing, and visualizing data for program management, as well as a source of data for evaluations.