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State and Local Climate and Energy Program

Designing and Implementing Programs

State Activities

State governments across the country are achieving significant energy, environmental, public health, and financial benefits through a variety of clean energy and climate change mitigation programs. Many of these programs are the result of state policies intended to expand the use of clean energy and/or meet goals or targets from state climate change action plans.

EPA Climate and Clean Energy Programs

To help states develop their own programs with limited resources, EPA facilitates numerous climate and clean energy programs that offer information, outreach materials, qualification and quantification tools, and technical assistance.

A concise overview of EPA programs and resources that states can leverage to expand or develop climate and clean energy initiatives is provided in the State and Local Guide to U.S. EPA Climate and Energy Program Resources (PDF) (29 pp, 350K, About PDF). Each program description in the guide includes:

  • Basic information and contact details
  • Potential target audiences
  • Highlights of ready-to-go tools and resources
  • Suggestions of possible actions a state could take to leverage EPA's offerings

The programs reviewed in the guide include:

EPA Program Buildings (Residential and Non-Residential) Industry Electric Power and Renewable Energy Transportation Energy Education Policy, Planning, and Energy Security
AgSTAR   √ √     √
Climate Leaders √ √ √   √  
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership √ √ √     √
ENERGY STAR for Buildings and Plants √       √ √
ENERGY STAR for Government √   √   √ √
ENERGY STAR for Industry √ √     √  
ENERGY STAR Products √ √     √ √
ENERGY STAR Residential - Existing Homes √       √ √
ENERGY STAR Residential - New Homes √       √ √
Green Power Partnership √ √ √   √  
Heat Island Reduction Program √ √       √
Landfill Methane Outreach Program   √ √     √
Local Climate and Energy Program √   √ √ √ √
National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency √ √ √   √ √
State Climate and Energy Program √   √ √ √ √

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Energy Efficiency Program Options

The Rapid Deployment Energy Efficiency (RDEE) Toolkit provides detailed program design and implementation guides for 10 broadly applicable energy efficiency programs. The toolkit focuses on programs that have extensive, proven field experience, along with documentation on program design, program cost, and results. If implemented as directed, these programs should produce clear, measurable, and predictable energy savings and jobs.

Customer/ Sector Program Measurement & Verification Job Creation
Residential
Lighting and Appliances ENERGY STAR labeled products Deemed Savings Moderate
Retrofit Tier 1: Energy Audit with Easy Direct Install Measures Deemed Savings High
Tier 2: Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Measured/Estimated High
HVAC Efficient HVAC Deemed Savings/ Measured/Estimated High
Commercial/Government/Schools
All Prescriptive Deemed Savings Moderate
Benchmarking and Performance Measured High
Custom Measured/Estimated High
Retro-commissioning Measured/Estimated High
On-Site Energy Manager Measured Moderate
ENERGY STAR Qualified Commercial Food Service Equipment Deemed Savings Moderate

Residential

  • ENERGY STAR Labeled Products promotes efficient lighting (CFLs and fixtures) and appliances through a variety of incentive structures including direct rebates to the customer as well as upstream incentives.
  • Residential Energy Audit and Direct Installation offers a basic audit and less extensive and lower cost set of measures than Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, including CFLs, hot water heater wraps, pipe insulation, and low flow showerheads.
  • Home Performance with ENERGY STAR offers whole home retrofits using qualified contractors, established home assessment protocols, and incentives from the program sponsor.
  • Residential Efficient HVAC targets HVAC contractors and homeowners to increase sales and proper installation of ENERGY STAR qualified HVAC equipment, such as air conditioners, furnaces, and split systems.

Commercial/Government/Schools

  • Non-Residential Prescriptive Rebates program provides incentives to the commercial, institutional, and industrial market for upgrade or retrofit of equipment with new, more energy efficient equipment, such as lighting, HVAC equipment, and products like motors and refrigerators.
  • Commercial Benchmarking and Performance works with commercial facility operations staff and owners to benchmark and monitor building energy performance, as well as to recommend energy efficiency upgrades based on analyses of building performance data.
  • Non-Residential Custom Incentives supports commercial and industrial customers in identifying and implementing site-specific and unique cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities, which often require calculations to determine energy savings.
  • Non-Residential Retrocommissioning offers building owners a systematic process for evaluating a structure's major energy-consuming systems and identifying opportunities to optimize equipment operation. Retrocommissioning is typically carried out through local networks of commissioning providers.
  • Non-Residential On-Site Energy Manager assists businesses by hiring, training, and paying an On-Site Energy Manager (OEM) to evaluate facilities' energy use and work with maintenance staff to reduce energy usage and costs over a six-month period.
  • Commercial Food Service Efficiency rebates energy-efficient commercial food service equipment such as refrigerators, freezers, steamers, fryers, hot food holding cabinets, ice machines, dishwashers, ovens, and other technologies, primarily aiming to influence the buyer to purchase more efficient equipment when their existing equipment has failed.

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Program Selection and Budgeting

To select programs, states consider the program's target audience, likely near-term annual penetration rates, and annual program costs per participant. In addition, they estimate the benefits of the program, such as average energy savings per participant, number of jobs created, etc. Based on these assumptions, states can develop the following types of program planning information:

  • Total annual program costs
  • Total annual program benefits
  • Benefits achieved per $1,000 invested

States will need to decide which programs to pursue and how large a budget to allocate to each selected program. A primary goal of a portfolio of programs is to maximize its value, subject to applicable constraints. Value could encompass several metrics, including number of jobs created and total energy saved. Constraints might include the available budget, price of electricity, cost per MBtu saved, and the perceived riskiness of the projects.

States typically develop estimates of the cost-effectiveness of programs in terms of the benefits achieved (e.g., per $1,000 spent). The Tools section contains information on how to measure cost-effectiveness.

In addition to quantitative items, each program can be screened relative to qualitative criteria, including:

  • The applicability of the program to a broad range of constituents
  • The comparative simplicity and risk level of the program (Risk assessments should consider the quality and reliability of information used in determining metrics, track record of the program in meeting goals and budgets, and dependence of the program on factors outside the implementer's control.)
  • The sustainability of the program after funding has been expended
  • The degree to which the program leverages other programs or funding sources

The screening process might include a ranking of each program from "low" to "high" relative to these qualitative criteria. States can use this information to prioritize the programs based on a combination of their qualitative and quantitative rankings.

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Program Design Steps

Regardless of the program(s) chosen for implementation, the following are key steps that will need to be undertaken:

  • Define program goals and scale (relative magnitude or comprehensiveness)
  • Set a time frame for roll out, delivery, and reporting results
  • Set a spatial boundary
  • Define a program baseline and data collection requirements
  • Establish a budget in context of broader policy objectives
  • Identify evaluation and reporting approaches
  • Select who (or which type of organization) will run the program

EPA offers detailed information about designing lead by example programs that incorporate clean energy into government operations.

Information about incorporating evaluation activities into program design is available in Chapter 7 of the Model Energy Efficiency Program Impact Evaluation Guide (PDF) (152 pp, 1.4M, About PDF).

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Tools and Resources

Database for Energy Efficient Resources (DEER)

DEER is a California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission sponsored database designed to provide well-documented estimates of energy and peak demand savings values, measure costs, and effective useful life with one data source. Users of the data are intended to be program planners, regulatory reviewers and planners, utility and regulatory forecasters, and consultants supporting utility and regulatory research and evaluation efforts.

Guide to EPA Climate and Energy Program Resources

The State and Local Guide to U.S. EPA Climate and Energy Program Resources (PDF) (29 pp, 350K, About PDF) has been designed to help state and local governments see which EPA programs could be leveraged to expand or develop clean energy initiatives in their locality. It includes roughly two-page synopses of 14 EPA climate and energy partnership programs. Each program description includes:

  • Basic information and contact details
  • Potential target audiences
  • Highlights of ready-to-go tools and resources
  • Suggestions of possible actions a state or local government could take to leverage EPA's offerings

National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency

The National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency is a private–public initiative that provides a number of resources to aid in the design and implementation of policies and programs to improve energy efficiency:

Rapid Deployment Energy Efficiency (RDEE) Toolkit

The RDEE Toolkit provides detailed program design and implementation guides for 10 broadly applicable energy efficiency programs. The toolkit focuses on programs that have extensive, proven field experience, along with documentation on program design, program cost, and results. If implemented as directed, these programs should produce clear, measurable, and predictable energy savings and jobs.

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