On October 18, 2012, NASEO convened a meeting of the steering committee of a multi-state home energy labeling and upgrade program in Springfield, Massachusetts. As part of a 2010 State Energy Program (SEP) competitive award, the State Energy Offices in Alabama, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington received funding to strengthen the states’ residential retrofit markets and establish a model that supports private sector job creation and increases residential energy efficiency. In order to increase homeowner investment in cost effective, energy-efficient upgrades each state is piloting the Energy Performance Score, a home energy asset label developed by Earth Advantage Institute, in target communities. NASEO’s role is to organize the project steering committee and coordinate an evaluation of the program.
As the project enters its final year, the steering committee discussed the group’s progress to date and its goals for the next several months. The states described their marketing materials and strategies, which illustrated the valuable peer-sharing opportunities facilitated by a multi-state approach. The Cadmus Group, NASEO’s evaluation partner, presented initial findings from homeowner surveys. Representatives from Sagewell, which is partnering with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources on this project, described the use of residential thermal imaging as a marketing tool to increase investment in energy efficiency and provided a demonstration of the technology.
NASEO will continue to coordinate the steering committee and process evaluation over the next year. NASEO and the four State Energy Offices will also take advantage of opportunities to share results and lessons learned from the project through NASEO’s Buildings Committee and other venues. For more information on this project, please contact Chris Wagner, NASEO Project Manager, at cwagner@naseo.org.