Case Studies
This case study highlights a 20-unit apartment building that gained energy savings and comfort through Efficiency Maine.
This report contains information on the market for home performance upgrades and the opportunities that exist for new home performance contractors; start-up needs and costs for firms entering the home performance contracting industry; home performance business approaches; and how established home performance contractors attract customers. It also contains detailed profiles of eight successful home performance firms across the United States.
This case study highlights the first project completed under Efficiency Maine's Multifamily Efficiency Program.
Policy brief on how Massachusetts state government partnered with local governments to aggregate QECBs to support a range of public and private projects.
This case study presents information about the AlabamaWISE program. It includes background information, approaches the program took to enhance home energy efficiency, and results achieved by the program.
Highlights a Clean Energy Works Oregon (now Enhabit) program that provides outreach, education, incentives, and low interest, on-bill financing. Using alternative underwriting practices, Clean Energy Works Oregon (now Enhabit) has achieved a rejection rate of just 10% while also maintaining a low loan default rate.
In this video interview segment, Mary Templeton with BetterBuildings for Michigan discusses developing a readiness scale to determine if target audiences are ready to hear a program’s messages and take advantage of its offerings.
This policy brief describes how Austin Energy's Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program worked with its lending partner, Velocity Credit, to originate almost 1,800 loans, totaling approximately $12.5 million.
In this video interview segment, Marty Treadway of Energy Smart Colorado discusses how to avoid contractor frustration by testing data collection tools before deployment.
RePower Bainbridge works with local residents to find creative ways to increase energy awareness, including developing an innovative Island Energy Dashboard, which displays real-time energy use around the island.
In this video interview segment, Bruce Doeuck of JEA ShopSmart in Jacksonville, Florida, discusses the market segmentation methodology his program used to better understand its audience.
This case study interview shares how GTECH (Growth Through Energy and Community Health) Strategies, a Better Buildings Residential Network member, developed and maintains strong strategic partnerships with trusted local companies and organizations to meet a shared goal of completing 100 home energy upgrade projects.
This U.S. Department of Energy Focus Series highlights the BetterBuildings for Michigan program’s community readiness assessment tool.
In this video interview segment, Mick Dalrymple of Energize Phoenix shares how the program used information about its audience to create a fun and appealing brand.
This case study focuses on the workforce training needs of upgrading historic homes in Charleston, SC.
In this video interview segment, Bruce Doeuck of JEA ShopSmart in Jacksonville, Florida, discusses the importance of building relationships with financial institutions.
Focusing on Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a case study, the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America research team IBACOS suggests a win-win between a builder's investment in energy efficiency and that builder's ability to sell homes. Although this research did not ultimately determine why a correlation may exist, a builder's investment in voluntary energy-efficiency programs correlated with that builder's ability to survive the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. This report explores the relationship between energy-efficiency ratings and the market performance of several builders in Colorado Springs.
Collection of case studies from New Hampshire that highlight successful energy efficiency upgrades.
This case study features Better Buildings Residential Network members Elevate Energy and the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology (ICAST), nonprofit members that develop energy efficiency solutions for multifamily and affordable housing communities.
This case study describes the experience of HartmanBaldwin, an architecture and construction company in Pasadena, CA, in becoming Home Performance with ENERGY STAR certified contractors. It includes a detailed example of a home performance upgrade from start to finish based on building science and other principles of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR training program
A case study featuring GTECH (Growth Through Energy and Community Health) Strategies, a nonprofit implementing an innovative new initiative called the Healthy Homes Incentive Program (HHIP), which promotes home energy upgrades to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, residents as a way to increase a home’s indoor air quality while saving energy and money.
The City of Seattle's Community High-Road Agreement sets standards for high-quality weatherization work for City residents' homes, economic opportunities for businesses and workers in Seattle, and training programs that set workers on long-term career paths. This case study discusses the content of the high-road agreement, the stakeholder process through which it was developed, and success factors, lessons learned, and expected benefits from the high-road process.
In this video interview segment, Yvonne Kraus of Conservation Services Group describes how the program aligned its goal of increasing energy efficiency with the community's goal to avoid building a new electrical substation.
In this video interview segment, Emily Levin of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation talks about how there is no silver bullet and its about creating a new industry, which takes time.
This case study explains how Community Power Works segmented its primary audience by focusing on owners of oil-heated homes with great results. This case study shares the program's outreach strategy and tactics for recruiting owners of oil-heated homes.
In this video interview segment, Andy Holzhauser of Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance discusses the importance of making early investments in infrastucture (i.e., staff and technology).
Home heating is the largest energy expense for most U.S. homeowners and accounts for nearly 30% of energy used in the nation's residential buildings. Millions of homeowners in colder regions of the country do not have natural gas available, leaving furnaces to be fueled with heating oil, propane, or electricity. This can often result in higher heating bills for homeowners. However, soon, these 2.6 million homeowners living in cold climates will have another, efficient home heating option. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), collaborating with Emerson Climate Technologies, developed a prototype for an air-source heat pump for the colder regions of the country--one that heats better and uses significantly less energy.
This video explains how Efficiency Maine helped contractors gain sales and business skills through training, which helped the program improve assessment-to-upgrade conversion rates and homeowner satisfaction.
In this video interview segment, Andy Holzhauser of the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance discusses the improtance of programs empowering contractors to sell upgrades and loans.
This paper reviews 18 residential energy efficiency financing programs and attempts to describe the limitations and strengths of existing programs.
In this video interview segment, Tom Bregman of Energize New York, Energy Smart discusses how to overcoming Difficulties Collecting Non-Utility Fuel Data (e.g., fuel oil, propane).
In this video interview segment, Yvonne Kraus of Conservation Services Group describes how energy advisors were an important strategy for building trust with customers in the community.
Case study highlighting the home performance lending program spearheaded by local utility JEA and JaxMetro Credit Union in Jacksonville, Florida. This program is one of the most successful in the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance's Community Consortium.
This case study addresses multifamily energy upgrade experiences by two members of the Better Buildings Residential Network—Elevate Energy and the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology (ICAST).
EnergyWorks' phased marketing campaign appeals to Philadelphia homeowners based on the current weather conditions.
This video describes how RePower benefited from coordinating with contractors from the very beginning.
In this video interview segment, Elizabeth Galante of NOLA WISE (New Orleans, Louisiana, Worthwhile Investments Save Energy), describes the program's home energy showcases, which were a successful marketing initiative that helped entice homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades.
In this video interview segment, Bruce Doeuck of JEA ShopSmart in Jacksonville, Florida, discusses the importance of responding to the needs of contractors.
This case study features New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC), a member that focuses on financing energy efficiency and clean energy upgrades for multifamily buildings in the city and surrounding communities.
Clean Energy Works Oregon's (now Enhabit's) experience implementing an on-bill financing program.
This case study discusses Denver Energy Challenge's adjustment from focusing on door-to-door outreach to an energy advisor model that allowed customers to receive one on one support throughout the home energy upgrade process.
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.
In this Focus Series interview, Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance (GCEA) leaders describe how GCEA helped jump-start the region's home performance contracting market by removing a common barrier to entry for contractors -- investing in new equipment.
This case study discusses Efficiency Maine's successful statewide Residential Direct Install (RDI) program that was established in 2012 to help create demand for home energy assessments and upgrades.
This case study highlights the Help My House Pilot Program conducted in South Carolina by Central Electric Power Cooperative that included on-bill financing.
These case studies highlight examples of participating contractors who have employed Home Performance with ENERGY STAR to help homeowners improve their home's comfort and lower their utility bills.
This article, part of a series sponsored by Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, details the successes and lessons learned of the Neil Kelly Company. Over the past 63 years, the Neil Kelly Company has successfully navigated several economic downturns and has revamped its home performance division to emerge as a leader of sustainable building practices.
In this video interview segment, Andy Holzhauser of the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance discusses how programs can create more effective loan products by first identifying existing loan products and then working to make them better for homeowners and contractors.
This video explains how Better Buildings for Michigan's performance metrics and quality assurance enabled them to encourage high-performing contractors, to help underperforming contractors improve, and ultimately to dismiss some contractors.
Philadelphia EnergyWorks helped sustain future programs by sharing marketing insights and program data with a local utility partner.
Descriptions of eight county-level and city-level energy efficiency programs in the Southwest.
Story on how California homeowners are learning about energy efficiency by touring demonstration homes.
In this video interview segment, Tessa Shin of AFC First discusses the importance of low interest rates.
This Focus Series interview discusses the semester-long, employer-assisted partnership between BetterBuildings for Michigan and Grand Valley State University (GVSU). This successful partnership involved an early adopter outreach campaign and served as a model for other program partnerships.
LaborWorks@NeighborWorks is a nonprofit temporary labor pool developed by NeighborWorks of Western Vermont (NWWVT) to assist professional contractors involved with the NeighborWorks Home Energy Assistance Team (HEAT). In the first of this Focus Series, DOE interviews Melanie Paskevich, HEAT Squad coordinator, to get details on why NeighborWorks set up the temporary labor pool, how workers are recruited, and lessons learned for other programs to consider.
Outlines Philadelphia's EnergyWorks program's use of low-interest loans to incentivize homeowners by tying the interest rate to the number of energy efficiency measures incorporated into the home.
In this video interview segment, Tessa Shin of AFC First discusses the importance of including financing in the upgrade sales process.
In this video interview segment, Tessa Shin of AFC First discusses the importance of making the loan application process simple for both homeowners and contractors.
Article on how one company added a for-profit weatherization business to its nonprofit organization -- and how they now work successfully together.
In this video interview segment, Liz Robinson with EnergyWorks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, talks about the faith-based partnerships EnergyWorks developed to help promote the program.
In this video interview segment, Liz Robinson with EnergyWorks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, talks about the faith-based partnerships EnergyWorks developed to help promote the program.
This case study features a Massachusetts-based program that used an SUV-mounted thermal imaging camera to evaluate thermal leakage from homes.
This video provides an overview of Better Buildings for Michigan's mentoring program for contractors, and the high value that contractors and the program gain from mentoring.
In this video interview segment, Yvonne Kraus of Conservation Services Group in Bainbridge Island, Washington, discusses why the RePower program created multiple branding and messaging themes.
In this video interview segment, Yvonne Kraus of Conservation Services Group in Bainbridge Island, Washington, discusses why the RePower program created multiple branding and messaging themes.
Links to residential projects completed under NYSERDA's Green Jobs-Green New York (GJGNY) program.
Links to case studies of residential projects and contractors under the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)'s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program.
Discusses innovative financing options designed to expand the accessibility of energy efficiency financing to households that typically do not qualify for traditional loans.
This report highlights program and policy attributes that enable successful on-bill programs based on analysis of four program case studies.
In this video interview segment, Ludy Biddle with Neighborworks of Western Vermont describes the benefits of one-on-one communications between customers and the Neighborhood H.E.A.T. Squad program's energy advisors.
This video describes the partnerships that EnergyWorks in Philadelphia established to offer classroom, lab, and in-field training to technicians to help them enter the home performance market.
In this video interview segment, Yvonne Kraus of Conservation Services Group describes how program and utility partnerships can co-benefit each other.
In this project, the U.S. Department of Energy Building America team Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit (PARR) worked with Elevate Energy on three tasks: to conduct pre- and post-retrofit analysis on the income and expense data of 13 Chicago-area multifamily buildings, to compare Chicago income and expense data to two national samples, and to explore the ramifications that energy-efficiency retrofits have on nine Chicago-area neighborhoods.
Better Buildings Energy Data Accelerator (BBEDA) partners Salt Lake City, the investor-owned electric utility Rocky Mountain Power (RMP), and the investor-owned natural gas utility Questar worked with community stakeholders throughout 2014 and 2015 to design and implement a data access solution. As a result, RMP created a data access portal for its customers in 2016, and Questar is working toward a data access solution that will be operational by 2017.
This policy brief provides insight into the transaction of an on-bill energy efficiency loan portfolio between two mission-oriented lenders, Craft3 in Oregon and Self Help in North Carolina.
With its Best Offer Ever promotion, Austin Energy completed comprehensive energy upgrades in a record 564 homes in only six months--more than 10 times the utility's typical participation rate. To quickly develop momentum for BetterBuildings-Austin Energy's Clean Energy Accelerator program with homeowners, Austin Energy leveraged its existing Home Performance with ENERGY STAR infrastructure, experience, and contractor base but added a comprehensive rebate/financing offer for a finite launch period. Demand soared, and due to thoughtful planning, Austin Energy and its contractors were able to keep up with requests for energy assessments, inspections, improvements, and loan origination, while learning valuable lessons along the way.
This case study discusses strategies that Austin Energy, a municipally owned utility, used to collaborate closely with building contractors to launch a new Best Offer Ever promotion quickly and effectively.
This case study discusses strategies that Fayette County, Pennsylvania used to provide Building Performance Institute (BPI) certification and business skills training to aspiring energy efficiency contractors.
This case study explains how Maine provided contractor sales training to boost upgrade conversions.
This case study describes Efficiency Maine's Home Energy Savings Program (HESP), one of the few large residential energy efficiency programs that has attempted to navigate the transition from rebate-focused offerings to financing focused offerings that better align with its limited budget.
This case study discusses Michigan's work to identify the right mix of incentives.
This case study describes an innovative program design used by BetterBuildings for Michigan to "sweep" neighborhoods in order to effectively reach its residential audience and achieve an 80% participation rate among those canvassed.
As a program charged with saving energy and supporting economic growth, Clean Energy Works Oregon (now Enhabit) balances contractors' work priorities with the program's need to enforce quality standards, track results, and ensure good customer service. This case study discusses Clean Energy Works Oregon's (now Enhabit's) strategies for actively engaging contractors to make the program successful.
This case study shares how Clean Energy Works Oregon (now Enhabit) used performance-based incentives, limited-time bonus rebates, early financing approvals, and seasonal advantages to implement financing tools that broaden its program reach and increase home upgrade completions.
Building on its understanding of homeowners in Rutland County, Vermont, NeighborWorks of Western Vermont (NWWVT) enlisted respected local citizens and organizations to spread the word about home energy efficiency upgrade opportunities, an effort that helped drive demand for nearly 200 home upgrades in just six months
This case study shares how Seattle's Community Power Works engaged a vast network of partners to build on existing capacity and knowledge, extending the reach of its program in a short period of time.
This brief focuses on loan programs in 30 states that are currently providing low- to no-interest loans to finance energy efficiency improvements--from energy-efficient windows to replacement HVAC systems--in the residential, business, and public sectors.
Find out how JEA successfully increased interest in its low-interest loan program beyond a short-term incentive.
Energy Impact Illinois (EI2) conducted 1,600 phone surveys of mid- to high-income households. Its aim was to test program messaging and gauge attitudes toward home improvements and energy efficiency upgrades. The surveys provided a number of insights on the target audience's decision process.
This video provides an overview of training a local workforce to meet program needs, including meeting the needs of local contractors for new hires.
Through its target audience research, Rutland, Vermont's NeighborWorks H.E.A.T. Squad learned that neighbors are the most trusted messengers of energy efficiency upgrade information, rather than governments or utilities.
In this video interview segment, Will Ranes of RePower Kitsap discusses the importance of understanding your market, including being able to speak the language of utilities and other key players.
In this video interview segment, Emily Levin of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation shares the importance of market research.
Highlights the EcoHouse Project Loan Program, which provides fixed interest rate loans as a tool for enabling energy improvements among households that are otherwise unlikely to be able to access affordable financing at market rates.
Case study highlighting San Diego's use of QECBs to finance a city lighting upgrade.
Case study highlighting Saint Louis County, MO's use of QECBs to fund a residential energy efficiency loan program.
Case study highlighting Philadelphia's use of QECBs to finance energy efficiency upgrades for City buildings.