Skip to main content
Energy.gov Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Residential Program Guide
  • About
  • Common Topics

Secondary

  • Explore Residential Guide
    • Handbook Index
    • Program Components
    • Program Design Phases
  • Resources
    • Quick Answers
    • Proven Practices
    • Energy Data Facts
    • Tips For Success
    • Resource Library
    • Glossary
  • Tech Solutions
    • About Tech Solutions
    • HVAC
    • Heat Pump Water Heater

Breadcrumbs

EERE » Residential Program Guide » Common Search Topics » Search by Topic

Page title

Search by Topic

Showing results 1 - 85 of 85

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Assess & Improve Processes

Monitor the effectiveness of contractor and workforce development efforts, motivate improvement, address low performers, and adapt on a regular basis.
Handbook

Market Position & Business Model – Assess & Improve Processes

Develop processes, strategies, and procedures to continuously improve your organization’s operations and position in the market.
Handbook

Financing – Develop Resources

Develop the procurement, outreach, and loan support resources required to perform your financing activities.
Handbook

Evaluation & Data Collection – Communicate Impacts

Communicate pertinent results of evaluations to program staff, partners, and stakeholders.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Develop Implementation Plans

Develop a detailed plan for launching and operating your program that integrates all program components into a process that is customer-friendly and efficient for contractors and other partners.
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Deliver Program

Implement contractor coordination and workforce recruitment and training in concert with other program components
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Develop Resources

Develop workforce and contractor engagement procedures, forms, and materials
Handbook

Evaluation & Data Collection – Conduct Evaluation

Manage third-party impact and process evaluation activities by coordinating with evaluators, transferring data, and overseeing evaluation deliverables.
Handbook

Market Position & Business Model – Communicate Impacts

Publicize benefits and lessons learned resulting from your organization’s success in the market.
Handbook

Evaluation & Data Collection – Develop Resources

Identify and implement systems and tools that will support data collection and data quality necessary for effective evaluation.
Handbook

Market Position & Business Model – Develop Evaluation Plans

Develop processes to evaluate your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and market position on a regular basis.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Make Design Decisions

Solidify your program strategy and decide which customers you will focus on; what products, services, and support you will provide; and how you will partner with contractors and others to deliver services to your customers.
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Develop Evaluation Plans

Determine processes for collecting and sharing data about key contractor metrics and workforce development activities.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Identify Partners

Establish relationships with organizations that can help deliver your program by enhancing your knowledge, resources, capabilities and access to customers and contractors.
Handbook

Market Position & Business Model – Develop a Business Model

Define your business model, including market position, products and services, type of customers, financial model, governance structure, and the assets and infrastructure your organization needs.
Handbook

Market Position & Business Model – Identify Partners

Identify and engage organizational partners in your business model design.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Assess & Improve Processes

Monitor the effectiveness of marketing and outreach strategies and adapt as needed.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Communicate Impacts

Communicate marketing and outreach results internally and to partners.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Deliver Program

Implement marketing and outreach activities in coordination with other program components to generate demand for your program's services.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Develop Resources

Create your program's branding guidelines and materials to elevate program visibility and support your marketing and outreach efforts.
Handbook

Financing – Develop Evaluation Plans

Establish an evaluation plan that will allow you to determine how your financing activities are impacting the market.
Handbook

Financing – Make Design Decisions

Determine if enhancements to existing financing products or the development of new products are necessary to allow you to achieve your goals and objectives.
Handbook

Financing – Develop Implementation Plans

Develop a plan to implement your financing activities, with defined roles for financial institution partners, contractors, customers, and your program.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Develop Evaluation Plans

Develop a plan and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing and outreach strategies.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Develop Implementation Plans

Develop a marketing and outreach plan that details your strategies and tactics, workflows and timelines, staff roles and responsibilities, and budget.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Make Design Decisions

Decide on priority target audience segments, messages, and incentives that will motivate customers.
Handbook

Financing – Identify Partners

Identify and partner with financial institutions that can provide capital, underwriting, and other functions to enable your customers to access financing.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Identify Partners

Establish relationships with organizations that will assist with program marketing and outreach.
Handbook

Market Position & Business Model – Set Goals & Objectives

Establish or update your organizational mission, vision, and goals to encompass energy efficiency programs.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Assess the Market

Identify and prioritize potential target audiences based on their likely receptivity to your program's services.
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Assess the Market

Learn about the capabilities and services of existing contractors and training providers working in your market.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Set Goals & Objectives

Establish specific marketing and outreach goals, objectives, targets, and timeframes.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Overview

Design a residential energy efficiency program that integrates marketing and outreach, contractor coordination, incentives, financing, and program evaluation to provide customers with the products and services they want through a customer-centric process.
Handbook

Financing – Overview

Ensure that your program’s customers will have access to affordable financing, so they can pay for the services you offer.
Handbook

Evaluation & Data Collection – Overview

Develop evidence-based insights into your program’s performance through third-party process and impact evaluations. Learn how to develop effective data collection strategies and timely evaluations to identify important program achievements as well as opportunities for making program improvements.
Handbook

Marketing & Outreach – Overview

Spur consumer demand for your program's services by understanding your target audience and motivating them to act using effective messaging, marketing and outreach tactics, and attractive program offers.
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Develop Implementation Plans

Develop contractor engagement, quality assurance, and workforce development plans that include strategies, workflow, timelines, and staff and partner roles and responsibilities.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Assess & Improve Processes

Improve your program’s efficiency and effectiveness through regular information collection, assessment, decision-making, adaptation, and communication.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Develop Resources

Develop the necessary materials, tools, and staff capacity to effectively deliver and manage your program.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Deliver Program

Ensure a positive customer experience with your program from launch through implementation over time.
Handbook

Evaluation & Data Collection – Develop Evaluation Plans

Identify the right questions to ask, appropriate metrics to collect, and the processes needed to initiate third-party impact and process evaluations.
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Make Design Decisions

Solidify your program strategy and decide which customers you will focus on; what products, services, and support you will provide; and how you will partner with contractors and others to deliver services to your customers.
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Identify Partners

Establish relationships with contractors who will deliver program products and services, and with organizations that train and certify workers.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Assess the Market

Research and analyze the specific barriers, needs, and opportunities for a residential energy efficiency program in your community.
Handbook

Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Overview

Support and partner with the workforce who will deliver your program’s energy efficiency services by understanding their capacity, recruiting contractor partners, enabling technical training and business development support, fostering clear communication, and refining program processes over time, in partnership with your workforce.
Handbook

Offer customers a range of upgrade paths, including single measures and staging upgrades over time

Programs that offered several paths for customers to upgrade their homes—for example through a choice of single or bundled measures, staged upgrades over time, or a comprehensive whole home upgrade—were found to motivate greater homeowner participation and generate higher energy savings, according...
Tips for Success

Have clear rules and systems for identifying and remedying contractor problems

Even with the best contractor partners, a program may sometimes encounter difficulties that require remediation. Consistent with Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program principles, many Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners discovered that they could address these difficulties by...
Tips for Success

Contractors are your sales team – educate and empower them with the skills to sell home energy upgrades

Many home performance programs have confronted the challenge of how to reach out to more customers and to improve conversion rates of customer interest into completed upgrades. Realizing that the contractor is a primary face-to-face link between customers and the program, some Better Buildings...
Tips for Success

Establish a clear system and process for ensuring quality work

A residential energy efficiency program’s success is dependent on the quality of work that contractors conduct in customers’ homes. Indeed, an in-depth examination of selected program strategies found that effective quality assurance and quality control programs provided a foundation for quality...
Tips for Success

Recognize and reward good contractor performance

Many programs used the information they gathered through their quality assurance efforts to recognize contractors that deliver consistent, high-quality work. Rewarding good contractor performance can help you build trust, strengthen partnerships, and boost workforce morale. You can incentivize...
Tips for Success

Develop routine reports or dashboards to help monitor the collected data

Many Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners found that program dashboards—regularly updated, easily accessed, summary reports of key metrics—helped them identify problems and monitor program progress toward their goals. Depending on the program’s goals and needs, dashboards included metrics...
Tips for Success

Establish collaborative partnerships with contractors and communicate with them early and often

Contractors are more likely to serve as program champions when the program engages with them throughout program design, delivery, and improvement. Your contractors are the primary contact points with your customers, and the quality of their interactions and services strongly influences how customers...
Tips for Success

Develop data collection and evaluation plans in conjunction with program design

Many Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners found that it was important to communicate during the program design phase with organizations and individuals that will collect or supply data for the evaluation. In this way, the involved individuals and organizations understand why the data is...
Tips for Success

Invest in information and communications technology

Paper-based or spreadsheet-based information collection processes can be low cost to develop and easy to roll-out, but more often than not, they become cumbersome to aggregate and store the data from many sources. Many Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners found that investing in...
Tips for Success

Good news is addictive – spread news about program accomplishments widely and often

Successful programs use many channels to communicate accomplishments and results to stakeholders. These include word of mouth and products such as press releases, announcements on websites, case studies, and presentations. Many programs use earned media—especially local media when possible—by giving...
Tips for Success

Develop partnerships based on an alignment of goals, strong collaboration, and consistent communication

Programs that have developed strong and lasting partnerships have done so by identifying shared goals and seeking ways in which programs and partners can mutually benefit by advancing each other's missions. Even if partners don’t have the same goals as your program, you can still try to find ways to...
Tips for Success

Design your financing activities to enable long-term sustainability

In order to overcome lenders’ concerns over the risk associated with energy efficiency loans, many Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners offered credit enhancements to lenders (e.g., loan loss reserve funds) to attract lender participation and to mitigate lender losses in the event of loan...
Tips for Success

Help contractors understand the program’s financing options and benefits, so they can communicate to homeowners

Homeowners do not benefit from access to financing if they don’t know about or understand options available to them. Contractors are often the primary transaction point for selling upgrades, and many programs have found that ongoing collaboration with contractors through sales training, regular...
Tips for Success

Leverage financial sector marketing channels

Lenders can be a valuable partner for programs in marketing loan products and driving demand for home energy upgrades. They are often a trusted source of information in a community, and they have access to potential customers and partners such as existing customers, loan aggregators, and large...
Tips for Success

Communicate with audiences at least three times; once is not enough

All residential energy efficiency programs have found that outreach needs to be repeated to connect with and remind potential participants about program offerings. As marketing gurus note, the majority of people need to be exposed to a product message at least three times (on separate occasions) to...
Tips for Success

Promote financing as part of energy efficiency sales transactions

Low-cost financing for home energy upgrades does not increase customer demand for upgrades on its own. A comprehensive evaluation of over 140 programs across the United States found that homeowners must be sold on the benefits of home energy upgrades before financing can become valuable to them...
Tips for Success

Conduct one-on-one outreach where people gather and help them take action right away

Programs that conducted one-on-one outreach found that community events provided good opportunities for the program and its partners to connect and build credibility with potential customers. Particularly successful events were ones that attracted the program’s target audience and aligned with their...
Tips for Success

Engage media to garner attention and credibility

Many successful programs found that getting media attention for their offerings and benefits helped add credibility to marketing efforts and expand their reach. By positioning "green" stories or home improvement mini-segments on local television or radio stations, they provided timely content that...
Tips for Success

Foster “word of mouth” communication from satisfied customers

Programs found that encouraging word of mouth outreach by asking satisfied customers to promote their program experience to peers helped attract more homeowners who completed energy upgrades. Referrals from neighbors and friends who are happy with their energy improvements can provide a good source...
Tips for Success

Make upgrade benefits visible by showcasing completed projects and actual results

Unlike remodeling projects, home energy upgrade benefits are generally not immediately visible to the casual observer. Strategies that demonstrate tangible benefits from upgrades can help increase understanding and motivation with potential customers. To help energy efficiency become real, some...
Tips for Success

Partner with organizations or individuals that customers already trust

Many programs found it useful to partner with a range of trusted organizations or individuals to market program offerings to their constituencies or followers. Better Buildings Neighborhood Program participants enhanced their marketing and outreach efforts by partnering with trusted local groups...
Tips for Success

Loan Performance Data and Communication

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
2013
Organizations or Programs
Efficiency Maine,
Indianapolis Better Buildings Program,
Enhabit

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on gathering and communicating loan performance data.

Resource - Topical Presentations

Community Readiness Assessments

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
2013
Organizations or Programs
Michigan Saves

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on the benefits of community assessments and strategies for gathering information.

Resource - Topical Presentations

Leveraging Holidays and Other Events

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
2013
Organizations or Programs
Energy Upgrade California

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on the strategies and challenges of using holidays and other seasonal events to market energy assessments and upgrades.

Resource - Topical Presentations

Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change Conference presentation archive

Author(s)
Behavior Energy and Climate Conference
Publication Date
2014

Presentations from past Behavior Energy and Climate Change (BECC) Conference. BECC is the premier event focused on understanding individual and organizational behavior and decision-making related to energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and sustainability. Past conference presentations include various resources related to Marketing & Outreach.

Resource - Topical Presentations

Connecticut Volunteer Data Collection Templates

Author(s)
Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge
Publication Date
2011
Organizations or Programs
Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge
This template, used by Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge, standardizes volunteer data collection efforts at events.
Resource - Templates & Forms

Using Intelligent Efficiency to Collect and Analyze Nonenergy Benefits Information

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
2017

This report discusses how information technologies (IT) and communication networks are enabling new ways of tracking and analyzing the benefits of saving energy. Automated data collection and processing, enabled by inexpensive sensors, WiFi networks, and cloud computing, are reducing the time and expense required to determine the value of nonenergy benefits. This report explores new techniques for data gathering and analysis, what they could mean for energy efficiency programs, and how they might impact state and utility policies.

Resource - Publications

Ready to Respond: Strategies for Multifamily Building Resilience

Author(s)
Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
Publication Date
2015
This guide is a collection of 19 practical strategies for building owners to make their properties more resilient against the effects of extreme weather events. It draws on advice from over 50 experts in the field of resilience as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In addition, the manual offers guidance on determining a propertyÕs vulnerability to various hazards, finding which strategies - including multifamily building envelope efficiency strategies - are relevant to a particular building, and getting started with a resilience plan.
Resource - Publications

Energy Efficiency through Tenant Engagement: A Pilot Behavioral Program for Multifamily Buildings

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
2016
In 2014, ACEEE launched a pilot program to test a variety of behavioral strategies to promote energy efficiency among tenants in low- to moderate-income multifamily housing in Takoma Park, Maryland. The program included behavioral messaging, events, educational information, and the distribution of energy saving devices. ACEEE measured energy use in the months before and after the pilot. The white paper includes these results, insights for the development of future behavioral change programs, and recommended engagement strategies for targeted communities.
Resource - Publications

Gamified Energy Efficiency Programs

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
2015
Gamification turns a real-world activity into a game to make people more likely to do it. Over the past five years, utilities and third-party providers have developed scores of games that motivate and encourage people to save energy. This report describes and analyzes 22 of these games in depth and surveys 31 others. It takes program designers through the steps of developing a game, explains how games motivate players to reduce their energy use, and analyzes the characteristics of the most successful gamified solutions.
Resource - Publications

Certified Home Performance: Assessing the Market Impacts of Third Party Certification on Residential Properties

Author(s)
Earth Advantage Institute
Publication Date
2009

The report presents an analysis of the market performance of third-party certified sustainable residential properties in the Portland and Seattle metropolitan areas. In each location, a sample of third-party certified homes was selected and comparable homes were found. The author documents that certified homes in the Seattle metro area sold at a price premium of 9.6% when compared to noncertified counterparts.

Resource - Publications

Clean Energy Finance Forum

Author(s)
Yale Center for Business and the Environment
Publication Date
2014
This publication advances the growth of energy efficiency finance and renewable energy finance markets in the United States by providing industry news, building professional dialogue, and fostering innovation. The forum includes: original feature articles covering cutting-edge topics and conferences; a biweekly newsletter of curated and original content; online conversations among experts in the field; and opportunities to register for webinars and other events
Resource - Publications

A Regulator's Privacy Guide to Third-Party Data Access for Energy Efficiency

Author(s)
State and Local Energy Efficiency Action Network
Publication Date
2012

This report contains guidance on issues and policy options related to providing access to customer energy use information that can be used to support and enhance the provision of energy efficiency services while protecting customer privacy.

Resource - Publications

Southern California Edison Company's Energy Efficiency Rolling Portfolio Business Plan For 2018-2025

Author(s)
Southern California Edison Company
Publication Date
2017
Organizations or Programs
Southern California Edison Company

This business plan is organized into nine chapters. Chapter I provides background on the business plan concept and describes the organization of Southern California Edison Company's (SCE's) plan. Chapter II presents SCE's vision of EE in California, including discussion of important policy issues. Chapter III provides a summary of SCE's proposed EE portfolio including: SCE's vision and goals; drivers of EE; high-level strategies to achieve its vision; how SCE will comply with the requirements for statewide administration and third-party solicitations; key portfolio data such as budget, forecast energy and demand savings, cost-effectiveness; and proposed metrics.

Resource - Program Presentations & Reports

Energize Phoenix Energy Efficiency on an Urban Scale: Year Three Summary Report

Author(s)
Energize Phoenix
Publication Date
2014
Organizations or Programs
Energize Phoenix

This summary report provides scientific results, lessons learned, and recommendations for driving energy efficiency in existing buildings on an urban scale. It includes program marketing lesson learned, such as: personal outreach and call to action events are critical marketing opportunities.

Resource - Program Presentations & Reports

Illinois Home Performance Training Calendar

Author(s)
Illinois Home Performance
Publication Date
2017
Organizations or Programs
Illinois Home Performance with Energy Star

This calendar provides Illinois Home Performance's participating contractors with information on upcoming residential energy efficiency trainings or events on topics such as HVAC quality installation and an introduction to building science.

Resource - Program Materials

Energize Connecticut Training Event Calendar

Author(s)
Energize Connecticut
Publication Date
2017
Organizations or Programs
Energize Connecticut

This calendar provides Energize Connecticut's participating contractors with information on upcoming energy efficiency and renewable energy, classes, seminars and conferences.

Resource - Program Materials

RePower Bainbridge's Final Boarding Call Infographic

Author(s)
Conservation Services Group
Publication Date
2013
Organizations or Programs
RePower Kitsap,
RePower Bainbridge,
RePower Bremerton
This infographic summarizes the results of RePower Bainbridge's Final Boarding Call event, providing an effective, engaging way to share program results with partners and other stakeholders.
Resource - Program Materials

Sample RFP: Third-party Process Evaluator

Author(s)
Michigan Saves
Publication Date
2009
Organizations or Programs
Michigan Saves
Sample RFP from Michigan Saves for a third-party to conduct an evaluability assessment and process evaluation for the program during the first phase of implementation.
Resource - Program Materials

Focus Series: Energy Impact Illinois Learns That Parties Sell Upgrades

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
2013
Organizations or Programs
Energy Impact Illinois
This case study discusses Energy Impact Illinois' marketing evolution from a broad outreach campaign to a Òhouse partyÓ approach that brought Chicago homeowners, neighbors, and friends together to learn about energy efficiency opportunities, while increasing demand for home energy assessments and upgrades.
Resource - Case Studies

Content Type

  • Handbook (45)
  • Tips for Success (21)
  • Resource (19)

Resource Type

Program Components

  • Market Position & Business Model (10)
  • Program Design & Customer Experience (15)
  • Evaluation & Data Collection (15)
  • Marketing & Outreach (23)
  • Financing (13)
  • Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development (17)

Program Design Phases

  • Overview (16)
  • Strategy Development (38)
  • Planning (34)
  • Implementation (36)
  • Evaluation (25)

States or Territories

  • Arizona (3)
  • California (9)
  • Colorado (3)
  • Connecticut (4)
  • Florida (3)
  • Illinois (3)
  • Indiana (1)
  • Louisiana (3)
  • Maine (4)
  • Maryland (5)
  • Massachusetts (1)
  • Michigan (3)
  • Minnesota (1)
  • Nebraska (1)
  • New York (3)
  • North Carolina (1)
  • Ohio (3)
  • Oregon (7)
  • Pennsylvania (4)
  • Texas (2)
  • Vermont (3)
  • Virginia (3)
  • Washington (5)
  • Wisconsin (1)

Organizations or Programs

  • Enhabit (6)
  • Efficiency Maine (4)
  • Energy Upgrade California (4)
  • EnergyWorks (4)
  • Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge (3)
  • EnergySmart (3)
  • Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance (GCEA) (3)
  • Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) (3)
  • Michigan Saves (3)
  • NeighborWorks of Western Vermont (3)
  • NOLA WISE (3)
  • RePower Kitsap (3)
  • Austin Energy (2)
  • Be SMART (2)
  • Better Buildings Program San Jose (2)
  • Energize Phoenix (2)
  • Energy Impact Illinois (2)
  • RePower Bainbridge (2)
  • Small Town Energy Program (STEP) (2)
  • Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) (2)
  • Arizona Public Service (APS) (1)
  • Chapel Hill WISE (1)
  • Energize Bedford (1)
  • Energize Connecticut (1)
  • Garfield Clean Energy (1)
  • Illinois Home Performance with Energy Star (1)
  • Indianapolis Better Buildings Program (1)
  • Long Island Green Homes (1)
  • Massachusetts Department Of Energy Resources (1)
  • Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (Me2) (1)
  • NYSERDA (1)
  • reEnergize (1)
  • RePower Bremerton (1)
  • Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s Neighborhood Program (1)
  • ShopSmart with JEA (1)
  • Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) (1)
  • Southern California Edison Company (1)
Residential Program Guide is a resource of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office.
Contact | Building Technologies Office

OFFICE of
ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

Forrestal Building
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Washington DC 20585

Link to Facebook Link to Twitter Link to Youtube Link to Linkedin

An office of

Energy.Gov

About EERE

Careers and Internships

EERE Home

Publications Library

Contact EERE

Energy.gov Resources

Budget & Performance

Directives, Delegations & Requirements

FOIA

Inspector General

Privacy Program

Small Business

Staff & Contractor Resources

Federal Government

The White House

USA.gov

  • Web Policies
  • Privacy
  • No Fear Act
  • Whistleblower Protection
  • Information Quality
  • Open Gov
  • Accessibility
  • Vulnerability Disclosure Program