CEE Ramps Up Support of Whole House Programs

Ambitious savings targets, diminishing savings from individual end uses, and the challenges in administering “home performance” programs are pushing CEE members to work together on a whole house platform for energy efficiency.

As homeowners become more interested in environmental protection, the market has become increasingly crowded with green messages and advertising vying for their attention. These messages come from manufacturers, contractors, retailers, environmental nonprofits, and efficiency program administrators who are cobranding with ENERGY STAR.  While program administrators often have credibility on their side, ensuring that consumers participate in their energy saving programs requires consistent, repeated messages that, in an ideal world, would be echoed by other stakeholders. Getting through to consumers in an era of greenwashing is becoming a real challenge.

With this backdrop, the CEE Whole House Committee saw an opportunity to develop and support a platform that is integrated across end uses, provides consistent messaging to build the value proposition for efficiency, and convinces homeowners to take action. The platform would support all stakeholders in their individual and collective efforts to achieve comprehensive electric and gas savings in existing single-family homes. This platform would make use of existing resources when possible and not duplicate efforts.

So, What Exactly is a “Platform?”

“While the ‘platform’ isn’t yet fully defined,” said Rebecca Foster, who is leading this effort for CEE, “We have established a clear goal that will guide the effort. Our objective is to develop tools and resources that will enable members to meet their individual program objectives in a manner that is intuitive from the consumer perspective. Our first step will be to build on CEE strengths and existing relationships and work with the relevant industry groups to prioritize the energy efficiency opportunities in existing homes. With that prioritization, we’ll develop messages for the systems, end uses, and behaviors that are high on the priorities list.”

The initial work products could include:

• Prioritized list of energy saving opportunities in existing homes with corresponding credible messages that could be used by all stakeholders

• Forum for discussion and information exchange (conference calls and a web-based discussion board)

• Infrastructure for future projects that require multistakeholder coordination

How will the Platform Relate to ENERGY STAR®?

A key question among CEE members and industry representatives to date has been how the platform would relate to the ENERGY STAR program. As noted above, the objective of this effort is to create messages that speak to the relative savings opportunity across end uses. This helps add an even more relevant focus to each stakeholder’s communications by connecting them with fellow industries via a neutral party. As such, the platform should support many whole house, Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, and traditional end use incentive program approaches, and should bolster promotion of ENERGY STAR qualified products and services.  It would also strive to support EPA and DOE efforts to design and implement effective marketing campaigns.

How Can I Get Involved?

The platform is in the early stages of development, so input from stakeholders will determine how CEE moves forward in the coming months. At the Fifth Annual Industry Partners Meeting in New Orleans on October 15-16, CEE will lead two breakout sessions seeking feedback on this opportunity and the specific components of the whole house platform currently under consideration. For more details on aspects of the platform pertaining to particular areas, please contact the CEE staff listed below.