Energy Trust evaluates program offerings, new initiatives and pilots to optimize program design, expand customer participation and increase energy savings. Energy Trust staff regularly present this research at energy conferences nationwide to share evaluation methods, learnings and best practices.

This August, Energy Trust staff presented four research papers at the 2015 American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy, ACEEE, Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry in Buffalo, New York.

• Jackie Goss, planning engineer, presented on the effectiveness of incentive bonus designs for Production Efficiency projects to increase project volume and energy savings, and decrease project delays.
• Kati Harper, industry and agriculture project manager, presented findings on Energy Trust’s Strategic Energy Management offering in the industry and agriculture sectors and its impact on customer participation.
• Erika Kociolek, evaluation project manager, provided an overview of the challenges associated with evaluating Energy Trust’s industrial Strategic Energy Management offering and guidelines for future evaluations.
• Susan Jowaiszas, senior marketing manager, presented market research on small manufacturers’ approach to energy management, and recommended outreach strategies, targeted messages and marketing tools to support interactions between customers and vendors.

Also in August, staff presented research papers at the 2015 International Energy Program Evaluation Conference in Long Beach, California.

• Sarah Castor, senior evaluations project manager, presented on the strong market influence of cash incentives for high-efficiency windows in existing single-family homes and underlined the need for incentives to support that market.
• Phil Degens, evaluation manager, and Erika Kociolek provided a summary of three different studies to inform gas fireplace program design, incentives levels, efficiency tiers, savings estimates and recommendations for future evaluations.
• Dan Rubado, evaluation project manager, presented a comparison of modeled energy use and actual energy usage to perform a utility billing analysis of newly constructed homes that received performance-based incentives through Energy Trust.

Check back for new evaluations and reports developed by Energy Trust staff on our website.