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MARIA VARGAS
EPA
KEITH REED
PG&E
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One of the outcomes of the CEE ENERGY STAR® Board Committee work has been a decision by ENERGY STAR to pilot a label for ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances that achieve higher levels of energy efficiency.
Under this system, consumers would have the ability to identify products that meet performance requirements of CEE tiered specifications with a “Save More” designation.
The “Save More” designation indicates that the product significantly exceeds ENERGY STAR minimum requirements and is eligible for an increased rebate.
For the pilot testing, “Save More” will only be available in select areas where CEE members are promoting a tiered program for appliances that includes financial incentives using CEE specifications.
“Having consistent performance requirements for ‘Save More’ was necessary for us to consider this concept,” explained EPA’s Maria Vargas, Brand Manager for ENERGY STAR. “The CEE specifications provide that consistency.”
Pilot programs are scheduled to be administered by Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas, BC Hydro and Efficiency Vermont.
Through these pilot programs, CEE members will be able to provide tiered incentives – consistent with CEE specifications – while utilizing the brand recognition, credibility and nationwide marketing of the ENERGY STAR program.
Details of the pilots were discussed at the recent ACEEE-CEE Market Transformation Symposium in Washington, D.C., where Vargas and Keith Reed, Manager of Customer Energy Efficiency at PG&E, conducted a breakout session.
ENERGY STAR’s decision to go forward with the pilot programs came after months of discussion with the CEE Board Committee and after EPA conducted consumer research on alternative wording options.
“Our goal is to maintain an understanding of the ENERGY STAR brand while meeting the needs of program administrators,” explained Vargas. “We didn’t want to create a new mark because we felt it was important to make this an easy proposition for the consumer. [For testing this new concept] the best place to start is where there is a financial incentive.”
Ed Wisniewski, who facilitated the session, stressed CEE’s cautious approach regarding “Save More.”
“Differentiating ENERGY STAR has the potential to help members meet escalating savings targets,” Wisniewski said. “We are extremely sensitive to the value of the brand and therefore must be very cautious about altering its meaning and representation.
“Care will be taken to ensure that the core meaning is not affected or diminished with the ‘Save More’ approach. The pilots will be integral to evaluating whether differentiating the brand without confusion is possible.”
EPA experimented with several other tag lines, conducting numerous consumer interviews and visual tests in different cities, before deciding to go with “Save More.” Consumer testing revealed that developing a label that differentiated increasing levels of efficiency could be a challenge.
“Consumers did not always understand the offering,” said Vargas. “They understood that ENERGY STAR means higher efficiency but did not always understand that this was a further differentiator.”
According to EPA, the market research suggested that “Save More” was the best option of the phrases considered. ENERGY STAR then developed specific guidelines for using this differentiator. “We wanted quality assurance,” said Vargas. “We want to make sure it is used properly.”
Thus the “Save More” tag line, combined with the ENERGY STAR logo, must be used:
- by participating energy-efficiency program administrators that commit to a quality assurance component to ensure signage is used properly
- only where these administrators offer incentives for efficiency levels that exceed ENERGY STAR
- in conjunction with established CEE tiers
- with appliance programs initially
Reed explained how, and why, PG&E will pilot ENERGY STAR’s “Save More.”
“We have a long history of supporting ENERGY STAR and working with CEE,” he said. “We think there are many benefits to this tiered approach.”
One of them is increased customer participation. “The customer will have more options,” Reed said. “Linking an established brand to a tiered program will be good for both.”
PG&E will be piloting “Save More” at 10 stores belonging to a chain in the San Francisco area. These stores have actively promoted ENERGY STAR in the past and have worked with PG&E on tiered appliance rebates. The pilot study will examine the impact of “Save More” on the number of rebates for higher-tiered products.
“By the end of 2007, we should have most of the pilot results,” said Vargas. “We’re hoping that ‘Save More’ will continue to drive people to ENERGY STAR.”
Please contact CEE’s John Taylor if you have any questions about “Save More” or would like to be added to a distribution list to receive a summary of the pilot results.
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