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Showing results 1 - 10 of 10

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Small Town Energy Program (STEP),
Baltimore Energy Challenge,
Efficiency Maine,
Energy Impact Illinois,
Efficiency Nova Scotia,
CoMo Energy Challenge,
Empower Chattanooga,
Somerville Energy Efficiency Now!,
PG&E,
Seattle City Light,
City of Fort Collins

This toolkit describes how to strengthen residential energy efficiency program outreach and marketing efforts through data-driven, tailored efforts to change behaviors. One of the greatest challenges facing the residential energy efficiency market is motivating people to take steps to save energy. This toolkit provides guidance, resources, and examples for applying community-based social marketing (CBSM) to increase the number of homes that are energy efficient.

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Arizona Public Service,
Northern States Power,
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComED),
Efficiency Vermont,
Energy Trust of Oregon,
Eversource Energy,
Fort Collins Utilities,
Narragansett Electric,
National Grid Massachusetts,
Otter Tail Power,
Pacific Gas and Electric,
Southern California Edison,
Seattle City Light,
Tucson Electric Power

Energy efficiency savings have grown substantially in the past ten years, and national leaders in program administration have emerged as savings levels have increased. This report reviews annual program performance for 14 leading energy efficiency program administrators, with a focus on costs, electricity savings, cost effectiveness, and portfolio design.

Author(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (HELP),
Kansas How$mart,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA),
Michigan Saves,
Texas LoanSTAR,
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD),
Nebraska Dollar and Energy Savings Program

This report is a guide to all customer-facing financing products—products offered by a lender directly to a borrower—used to pay for energy efficiency. Intended for state and local governments that are deciding whether to start a new program, tune up and existing program, or create a Green Bank, it provides information on the full range of financing product options for target participants, the tradeoffs of various products, and potential advantages and disadvantages for different types of customers.

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Elevate Energy,
Enhabit

This paper analyzes Bank of America's $55 million initiative to provide low-cost funding and grant support to advance energy efficiency investment in low- to moderate-income communities. The funding supported community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in developing and enhancing efficiency programs for residential, commercial, and multifamily buildings. We report on loan performance, energy savings, and the degree to which the savings offset the cost of the energy efficiency investment.

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Focus on Energy,
National Grid Rhode Island,
DC Sustainable Energy Utility Low-Income Multifamily Initiative,
Bay Area Regional Energy Network Multifamily Building Enhancements,
Con Edison Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program,
Con Edison Multifamily Low Income Program,
Puget Sound Energy,
Xcel Energy,
Elevate Energy,
Energy Trust of Oregon,
Public Service Electric and Gas Multifamily Program,
Pacific Gas & Electric Company,
Arizona Public Service (APS) Company,
Austin Energy,
Efficiency Vermont,
CenterPoint Energy,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

The multifamily sector can be hard to reach when it comes to energy efficiency programs. Besides being diverse and complex, the sector presents a unique set of challenges to efficiency investments. The result is that multifamily customers are often underserved by energy efficiency programs. Drawing on data requests and interviews with program administrators, this report summarizes the challenges to program participation and identifies best practices that programs can use to reach and retain large numbers of multifamily participants.

Author(s)
State and Local Energy Efficiency Action Network
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
EnergySmart,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA),
Enhabit,
Mass Save,
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA),
Manitoba Hydro,
Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (HELP),
Michigan Saves,
Warehouse for Energy Efficiency Loans,
Austin Energy,
Efficiency Vermot,
Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance,
Illinois Home Performance with Energy Star,
Build It Green,
Earth Advantage,
Elevate Energy,
Arizona Public Service (APS),
Pacific Gas and Electric Company,
NeighborWorks H.E.A.T. Squad

This Guide is designed to help state and local policymakers to take full advantage of new policy developments by providing them with a comprehensive set of tools to support launching or accelerating residential energy efficiency programs. The Guide focuses on four categories of policies that have proven particularly effective in providing a framework within which residential energy efficiency programs can thrive: incentives and financing, making the value of energy efficiency visible in the real estate market, data access and standardization, and supporting utility system procurement of energy efficiency.

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
Elevate Energy,
Enhabit

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on standardization of effective practices across a program territory.

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA),
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA),
Energy Right Solutions for Buisness,
Energy Right Solutions for Industry,
Efficiency Nova Scotia,
National Grid Energy Efficiency Program,
Energy Trust of Oregon,
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programs,
Enhabit,
District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility,
BC Hydro,
Ontario Power Authority Industrial Accelerator Program,
Elevate Energy

Among the many benefits ascribed to energy efficiency is the fact that it can help create jobs. Although this is often used to motivate investments in efficiency programs, verifying job creation benefits is more complicated than it might seem at first. This paper identifies some of the issues that contribute to a lack of consistency in attempts to verify efficiency-related job creation. It then proposes an analytically rigorous and tractable framework for program evaluators to use in future assessments.

Author(s)
National Governors Association
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
TakeCharge! Challenge,
Enhabit,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

Many states have adopted policies intended to overcome the barriers that limit the more efficient use of electricity. Yet because such efforts have not addressed the lack of consumer information and motivation to improve efficiency, many opportunities for energy efficiency remain untapped. To help address that problem, states, utilities, and other energy efficiency service providers have begun to develop new approaches to informing and motivating customers based on behavioral economics and psychology research. This report describes three broad strategies that states can use to engage consumers' participation in energy efficiency programs: provide direct consumer information and feedback on energy use, influence social norms; and match messages and messengers to target audiences. Recommendations for actions that governors can take within the context of each of those three strategies are provided.

Author(s)
Kira Ashby and Hilary Forster, Consortium for Energy Efficiency,
Bruce Ceniceros, Sacramento Municipal Utility District,
Bobbi Wilhelm, Puget Sound Energy,
Kim Friebel, Commonwealth Edison,
Rachel Henschel, National Grid,
Shahana Samiullah, Southern California Edison
Publication Date
Organizations or Programs
National Grid,
Southern California Edison,
Puget Sound Energy,
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD),
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComED)

This paper explores ways in which program administrators are using social norms to spur behavior change and, as a result, curb energy use. In recent years, home energy reports (HER) programs have applied the concept of social norms to the energy efficiency context. These feedback programs inform customers of how their energy consumption compares to their neighbors' and provide other information about their usage, with the goal of enticing customers to change their energy use behavior to improve their relative neighborhood ranking.