CEE Staff contributed to two recent papers at the eceee Summer Study. Abstracts and links to the papers are below.
This paper highlights CEE member work to build cultural competency and community capacity within the existing workforce. Case studies from member program administrators (Sacramento Municipal Utility District, National Grid, and Avangrid) compile learnings on how to better support, train, and educate an energy efficiency workforce drawn from the communities intended for enhanced program engagement. In particular, this paper characterizes barriers and challenges in identifying new workforce candidates, training these individuals, and providing the necessary conditions for delivering decarbonization solutions. The findings highlighted in this paper are key to helping utilities learn from each other on how to build trust locally so that energy users are receptive to energy program offerings, and local campaigns can serve to build community knowledge of energy efficiency.
This paper offers insight into CEE member efforts to measure progress on priority audience engagement through qualitative and quantitative equity metrics. Case studies from member programadministrators (Energy Trust of Oregon, Cape Light Compact, Seattle City Light, Rhode Island Energy) highlight better practices for operationalizing the development of baselines and targets, engaging community and stakeholders, and overcoming key barriers to implementation such as data challenges and time constraints. This paper also unveils equity measurement recommendations for program administrators new to this work, unsure where to start, or interested in advancing their current work. CEE members can leverage these emerging, innovative lessons to better characterize the impact of equity efforts, improve program design and delivery, and better meet the needs of all energy users.