Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Using car talk to sell home energy upgrades

By Elisa Wood

September 29, 2010

Does the word ‘audit’ give you a warm and fuzzy feeling? Not likely. Yet it’s typically the first service an energy efficiency contractor offers to a prospect. Sometimes the audit is even free, much like the unwelcome kind we receive from the IRS.

Use of words like ‘audit’ ‘retrofit’ and ‘weatherize’ turn off customers. Unless the industry rethinks its jargon, it is unlikely to win the hearts, minds and wallets of the typical American consumer.

These are some of the findings from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which on September 29 launched a new effort: “Driving Demand for Home Energy Improvement.”

With a lot of federal money flowing into the industry, it is more important than ever to figure out why homeowners resist energy upgrades. To that end, LBNL published a 132-page report that examines human behavior when it comes to energy choices. The report includes case studies of successful programs.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, information and education will not inspire the typical homeowner to insulate and replace a boiler, according to the report. In fact, people who support the idea of conservation conserve no more than those who do not.

Even the promise of saving money doesn’t always work. Consumers feel overwhelmed by too many choices, so are likely to just opt for the status quo and leave their home as it is, says the report.

But homeowners will take action if others in their community do so, and if they are gradually eased into the idea of making energy efficiency improvements, starting with what is easy and working up to bigger projects, said Merrian Fuller, LBNL research associate, in a web presentation.

Carl Nelson, program and policy manager for the Minneapolis-based Center for Energy and Environment, found that people respond favorably to energy efficiency when they are gathered together with neighbors for community meetings. Ninety-five percent of the 2,400 people who attended the meetings signed up for audits, or rather ‘home visits,’ before leaving. They even made the required $30 co-payment.

When neighbors are all gathered together in a room to discuss energy efficiency, they begin to view home upgrades as a “public commitment,” as well as “a social norm,” like cleaning out leaves from gutters, he said. “It is something normal people do.”

As for language, it is not enough just to replace the word ‘audit’ with ‘home visit,’ or retrofit with ‘home energy upgrade.’ Language must be vivid and fit with the consumer’s existing mental frame. Don’t just say a house is leaky, said Fuller. Tell the homeowner that all of the leaks combined are the size of a basketball. One contractor found success by using car talk. He sold efficiency in terms of miles per gallon for the home.

Finally, make ‘em laugh. Humor is such a good sales tool that the Minneapolis program hired a comedian to train its workshop presenters. The presenters won laughs and action when they told homeowners: “When your refrigerator is old enough to vote, let it go.”

The report, “Driving Demand for Home Energy Improvements,” is available athttp://drivingdemand.lbl.gov/.

Elisa Wood is co-author of “Energy Efficiency Incentives for Businesses 2010: Eastern States,” http://www.realwriters.net/rew/rtlnkpr.htm

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Move over Star Trek: Here comes Energy

By Elisa Wood

September 22, 2010

Remember when the idea of generating electricity from wind turbines and solar panels seemed really cool? No denying their benefits, but they are sooo last year.

Energy folks have gazed with envy at those who work in telecommunications for a long time. They invented the cell phone. Energy wanted its own thingamabob that would completely revolutionize its market. Now, with all of the thought, money and politics backing energy tinkerers, forget the cell phone. I suspect Energy is approaching a “Beam me up, Scottie” breakthrough.

Here are a few of my favorite new contraptions and concepts.

  • My commute, the power plant: The public relations person who emailed me this information wrote in the subject line, ‘Very Cool Smart Grid/Transportation Announcement.’ I thought, ‘Oh sure, how many times have I heard that from a PR person?’ But yeah, it is.

Viridity Energy and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are tapping into the growing use of waste energy. (We in the US apparently waste about as much energy as the Japanese use in total.) In this case, Viridity software works to capture the energy created when a train brakes. The excess power is stored in a battery and then sold to the power grid. The first test will occur at Philadelphia’s busiest subway line. If it works, it may spread to public transportation systems across the country.

“The project will pair the latest 21st century technologies and energy optimization practices with one of the country’s oldest transportation systems, dating back to the deployment of electric trolleys in 1892,” says Viridity’s news release. “Mass transit systems across the country are striving to maintain high quality service while facing growing fiscal challenges which are further compounded by rising energy costs. The pilot represents a large and untapped potential for transit systems to help meet these challenges and at the same time improve grid reliability in highly populated urban neighborhoods.” http://viridityenergy.com/news/press/

  • My knee, the power plant: I heard about this prototype a couple of years ago. As far as I know it’s not commercially available yet. But when it is, I want one. This gadget uses “biomechanical energy harvesting.” You wear it on your knee and it captures energy wasted from knee movement as you walk. “We believe that when you’re slowing down the knee at the end of swinging the leg, most of that energy normally is just wasted,” said its creator, Arthur Kuo, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, in aRenewable Energy World article. Your knee won’t light up cities, but it might charge your Ipod. At the time the article was published in 2008, Kuo thought the knee brace was still too bulky and he was working on streamlining it.http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2008/02/knee-brace-generates-electricity-from-walking-51434
  • Wireless electricity: To think, we were all so impressed with cordless phones. Now a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says we may soon be able to toss out our electric wires as well. No more looking for where to plug in the televisions, stereos, lamps and computers. As Paul Hochman put it in hisFast Company article, it is “a breakthrough that portends the literal and figurative untethering of our electronic age.” Several companies are working on commercial applications.http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/132/brilliant.html
  • Wired cows: Cows seem to hold some special place in the heart of green energy fans. It’s not unusual to see promotional photos from wind power companies with cows grazing by wind turbines. Now some Hewlett-Packard researchers are proposing that dairy farms power our energy hungry data centers. It involves cow manure, waste heat from the data center and a combined heat and power system. I’ll say no more because further details are in an article I have written on hybrid power systems for the September/October 2010 issue of Renewable Energy World International magazine. Watch for it here. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/magazine/renewable-energy-world

Those are just a few of the cool energy concepts that I’ve seen. Please let us know what you’ve come across.

Elisa Wood is co-author of “Energy Efficiency Incentives for Businesses 2010: Eastern States,” www.realenergywriters.com

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

East coast states again dominate awards for efficiency

By Elisa Wood

September 15, 2010

Again East Coast states have won disproportionate recognition in a national analysis of energy efficiency programs, this time from the well-respected American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

ACEEE named five of the best state-led efficiency programs in a report issued Wednesday. Three of the five awards went to Northeast and Mid-Atlantic programs: Two in New York and one in Maryland.

This comes on the heels of a report by the Center for American Progress and Energy Resource Management Corp. that identified the ten best states for energy efficiency. Seven of the ten were East Coast states.

What’s the secret ingredient that brings so much success to the eastern states when it comes to efficiency? ACEEE gives credit to the region’s historic pursuit of energy efficiency and effective alliances between utilities and state governments.

ACEEE also points out that several new sources of funding are now available for efficiency endeavors. (Also see Energy Efficiency Incentives for Business 2010:Eastern States at www.realenergywriters.com, which details incentives totaling $8.6 billion for efficiency along the East Coast.)

The federal government has dramatically increased efficiency spending in recent years, as have several states throughout the nation. For the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, there is the added advantage of some specialty programs that contribute funds, such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI, the nation’s only mandatory carbon dioxide cap and trade program, has generated $650 million in auction allowance sales since September 2008.

“The funding streams for individual states coming from RGGI proceeds have been large enough to launch new and innovative energy efficiency programs, such as the Green Homes/Green Jobs Program in New York,” the ACEEE report said.

In addition, Maine is using all of its RGGI proceeds for electric and fuel efficiency, and New Hampshire is using 90 percent of its RGGI share for energy efficiency. Other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have channeled millions from RGGI into efficiency programs, operating under the premise that efficiency offers the cheapest and cleanest way to meet new energy demand.

While the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic appear to head the pack when it comes to efficiency, programs in the report, other states also received kudos from ACEEE. Hawaii and Colorado were among those receiving top honors. Honorable mention went to programs in Alaska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. Emerging programs were noted in California, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

“These state programs benefit customers in numerous ways, generating significant energy savings, training thousands of professionals, lowering energy costs, and reducing the negative environmental impacts of energy use. Many featured programs demonstrate collaboration between public and private stakeholders, serving as models for effectively coordinated and highly-leveraged programs that can last for years to come,” said Steve Nadel, ACEEE executive director.

ACEEE’s top five included efficiency programs that focus on new homes, combined heat and power, wastewater efficiency, economic development and agriculture. Full details are available at ACEEE’s website. http://www.aceee.org/research-report/e106.

Elisa Wood is co-author of “Energy Efficiency Incentives for Businesses 2010: Eastern States,” www.realenergywriters.com

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Energy Efficiency and PV: Together Forever

By Elisa Wood

We have seen a marriage of the energy efficiency and solar energy industries as the US has worked to green its buildings. In fact, some financing programs require that all cost-effective efficiency be pursued before solar panels are installed.

Here Elisa Wood interviews Liz Merry, owner of Verve Solar Consulting, about how the solar industry views energy efficiency and the outlook for companies that tackle both EE and PV.

What do solar installers think of the idea that a building should be made energy efficient before solar equipment is installed?

I’ve heard some solar leaders say “Energy efficiency eventually, sales first.” That makes complete sense in some cases, where the solar installer has recruited the customer and the customer already has an energy efficient home. If the customer has to call another contractor to come in and get the building 5 percent more efficient at a high cost before the solar project can go forward it is going to kill the solar project.

But, in the cases where the home is older and simply leaking energy out of its thin windows and walls, the solar company that recruits this customer has an opportunity to sell a bigger job by doing the energy retrofit project, or partnering with a building performance contractor. I picture the energy efficiency first requirements as a mandate for smart contractors to become energy service companies, not just solar, not just efficiency.

Energy retrofit work isn’t always easy, and sometimes it is hard to find energy contractors. Can solar installers always find contractors to the work if a home must be made efficient before solar is added?

It’s not easy, but it’s possible. And where there is challenge there is opportunity. The building performance contractor business is about to get very busy, and the entire trade will become more efficient and standardized with experience, just has it has developed in the PV and thermal businesses over time. We’re just in that rough spot between initial demand creation and plenty of supply available.

The EE industry seems more mature than solar in the United States. Will it create as many new job opportunities as solar?

You’re right about the energy efficiency industry being more mature than the solar PV industry. Efficiency technology and energy management controls has been a big business since the early 1990s, and in my state of California we’ve had ratepayer energy efficiency programs since the early 1980s.

But growth is continuing in EE. As utilities begin meeting mandates to change their energy mix the need to reduce and then control energy demand becomes highly profitable.

The new job opportunities are for engineers of every type as more engineering and construction firms begin to tackle retrofit services and energy management. But not just engineers. There are thousands of program managers, analysts, customer service representatives, and marketing-related positions behind the effort to get billions of dollars of energy efficiency rebates out the door. These jobs are usually with consulting and contracting firms that actually implement the efficiency programs on behalf of the utility.

We see a lot of discussion about smart grid and home energy use. But shouldn’t policy focus on the big energy users, commercial and industrial buildings?

You said the magic term: smart grid — the elusive king of all change agents in terms of merging megabytes (of data) and megawatts (of energy demand.) People focus on what they know best, and as we all live in homes, the residential market will get the most buzz on and off line. When smart energy management technology infiltrates our homes, it will be accelerated in our businesses and institutions.

The vision for a smart grid is to provide users the information they need to really manage their energy use, and enable grid operators to balance the grid when there are millions of energy producers, not just a hundred thousand. So, no, I don’t think it helps to focus on just the largest energy users. The energy grid will be the basis of a sustainable economy when both the largest users and the majority of users can intelligently manage their own usage.

Liz Merry will lead a half-day workshop, “Solar Industry Primer,” October 11, 2010 at Solar Power International in Anaheim, Calif., http://bit.ly/cKb60F.

Elisa Wood is co-author of “Energy Efficiency Incentives for Businesses 2010: Eastern States,” http://www.realwriters.net/rew/rtlnkpr.htm

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Best states for energy efficiency

By Elisa Wood

September 2, 2010

If you live in Connecticut, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, North Carolina, New Jersey or Ohio your state is doing something right – a lot right – when it comes to energy efficiency.

The ten states deserve kudos, in that order, for policies that encourage energy efficiency, according to a report issued this week by the Center for American Progress and Energy Resource Management Corp.

If other states achieve similar market dynamics, the US construction industry may pull out of its current slump, says the report, “Efficiency Works: Creating Good Jobs and New Markets through Energy Efficiency.”

The US could add 625,000 full-time sustained jobs over the next decade if it retrofits 40 percent of the nation’s homes and commercial buildings, according to the report. Such an effort would bring $500 billion in new investments to upgrade 50 million homes and office buildings and generate as much as $64 billion a year in cost savings for U.S. electric ratepayers.

Why is this especially important now? Because the economic downturn cost more than one in three construction workers their jobs, leaving unemployment in the industry “at Depression-era levels,” the report said.

“To confront this crisis, the U.S. jobs market needs sustained new demand for the skills of construction workers that is grounded in providing real value to the economy through enhanced productivity, greater efficiency, and improved asset value for real estate,” said the report. “Such a solution is readily available. Our country needs a national program to retrofit America’s homes, offices, and factories for energy efficiency—a program that can provide an important answer to the jobs crisis facing our country.”

As is often the case with US energy policy, it is states, not the federal government, leading the way in fostering energy efficiency markets. The report identifies ten strategies employed by top states. They are:

  • Energy efficiency measures in Renewable Portfolio Standards—policies that not only require utility companies to meet a set portion of demand from renewable energy but also include energy efficiency as a qualifying form of clean energy.
  • Energy efficiency measures in Renewable Energy Credits—policies that establish markets for tradable clean energy credits and include energy efficiency as a qualifying clean energy resource.
  • Energy efficiency specific standards that require utilities to plan for meeting a percentage of future growth in demand through energy efficiency instead of increasing supply. These policy tools include Energy Efficiency Resource Standards and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards.
  • Unbundled utility structures in which energy transmission and distribution utilities are separate from power generation companies that own power plants, encouraging least costs strategies for meeting energy demand through conservation.
  • Decoupled utility rate structures, where utilities’ rates are adjusted to compensate for changes in the volume of energy sold, removing the structural disincentive to conserve energy.
  • Aligning efficiency with utility companies’ shareholder benefits, such as bonus rates of return, reimbursing program costs, or other incentives that help transform efficiency from a special program into a core business practice.
  • Penalties for noncompliance with energy efficiency standards, to ensure that well-intentioned programs are effectively implemented, monitored, and improved upon over time. Effective policies must have real consequences.
  • Regulatory cost-benefit tests that focus on utilities’ real costs, in order to isolate the specific value offered by energy efficiency investments.
  • Property-assessed financing structures that link the benefits of installed efficiency to a building, rather than the owner of the building, allowing repayment of financed investments to transfer automatically to new owners.
  • Service assessment delivery structures, which allow government jurisdictions to directly facilitate financing of upfront capital costs, assuring repayment through municipal or other service assessment mechanisms.

The top states do not use all of these measures, but they have “developed important pieces of the puzzle,” the report said. Still others are moving in the right direction, among them Virginia, Hawaii, Michigan, Maine, Nevada, Delaware, New Mexico, Florida, Illinois and Utah.

For more details see the full report athttp://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/08/good_jobs_new_markets.html.

Elisa Wood is co-author of “Energy Efficiency Incentives for Businesses 2010: Eastern States,” http://www.realwriters.net/rew/rtlnkpr.htm