ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award Partner of the Year Award recognizes organizations that have demonstrated leadership and best practices in implementing energy efficiency program and/or program portfolios that incorporate Home Performance with ENERGY STAR as a key strategy. The goal of this award is to recognize comprehensive, high-performing energy efficiency programs and/or portfolios that have directly leveraged ENERGY STAR to achieve (or to be positioned to achieve) significant impact in the marketplace advancing energy efficiency and related greenhouse gas emission reduction objectives: • Consumers Energy, Michigan • Entergy New Orleans, Louisiana • Illinois Energy Office at the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Illinois Consumers Energy Jackson, Michigan As Michigan's largest utility, Consumers Energy provides natural gas and electricity to 6.6 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. Consumers Energy brings together a wide variety of residential, commercial, and industrial energy efficiency offerings underpinned by ENERGY STAR® certified products, building construction, and operations standards. Consumers Energy is receiving ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year recognition for its successful delivery of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES) program in a mature market. Consumers Energy also promotes ENERGY STAR certified products, commercial and industrial initiatives, and ENERGY STAR certified homes. Key 2013 accomplishments include: • Completing more than 1,956 HPwES projects by using a market segmentation approach to identify homeowners best positioned to move forward with deep energy savings improvements. • Increasing homeowner demand for HPwES services by creating the Home Energy Analysis program, a qualifying step for HPwES that improves customer experience, engages homeowners in the whole-house approach to home performance and connects homeowners with qualified home performance contractors. • Developing and mentoring a select trade ally network, specially trained to educate customers on the benefits of energy improvements and long-term savings, as well as deliver deep energy savings. • Working with 404 retail locations across Michigan to promote ENERGY STAR certified lighting products and distributing 100,000 ENERGY STAR certified light bulbs to those in need through partnerships with local food banks. • Achieving 415 homes built to the ENERGY STAR Version 3 specification in the second year of the Residential New Construction program, and developing a relationship with the Michigan Association of Realtors to bring the value of ENERGY STAR to Michigan's economy. • Improving K-12 buildings in 19 districts across Michigan through Consumers Energy's Building Performance with ENERGY STAR for K-12 Schools pilot program. The pilot overcame common barriers to energy efficiency by following a strategic approach to energy management that emphasized creating energy teams, benchmarking, and supporting action planning. 1 ------- • Incorporating the ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry into Consumers Energy's efforts to engage industrial customers. This collaboration allows customers to take advantage of both ENERGY STAR and Consumers Energy's resources, providing through training, analysis of energy management systems, action plan development, implementation assistance, and financial incentives Entergy New Orleans New Orleans, Louisiana In conjunction with the New Orleans City Council, Entergy New Orleans administers Energy Smart, a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® (HPwES) program that seeks to grow the city's energy efficiency market. The program encourages local residents to embrace energy efficiency as a means to lower utility bills, create green jobs, improve indoor air quality, and tackle climate change issues related to wetlands loss, an issue critical to local communities' survival. Energy Smart is receiving ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award recognition for its successful implementation of the HPwES program in an emerging market. Key accomplishments include: • Partnering with Entergy Louisiana and Better Building Neighborhood Program grantee NOLA Wise to promote the program, provide incentive funds and expand its service territory by 20 percent. • Completing more than 720 HPwES projects to reduce energy consumption by 3,600 MWh and greenhouse gas emissions by 2,500 metric tons, equivalent to the annual energy use of 127 homes. • Providing ongoing training to dozens of contractors who have processed nearly $1 million in incentives for clients, with a total economic impact of more $1.5 million. • Leveraging the ENERGY STAR certification mark on Energy Smart New Orleans marketing materials, including 71,500 door hangers, 15,000 flyers, presentations at 24 partnership, and 13 neighborhood events, 10 customer emails, eight earned media appearances, eight newspaper ads, six radio ads, and four press releases. Illinois Energy Office at the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Springfield, IL Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, in collaboration with the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, funds a statewide Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® (HPwES) program called Illinois Home Performance. Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is receiving ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award recognition for its successful implementation of the HPwES program in an established market. Key accomplishments include: • Completing 1,738 projects through its HPwES program, with every project estimated to save at least 15 percent in energy savings. • Issuing 1,738 Gold or Silver Illinois Home Performance Certificates, an official home improvement record integrated with Illinois' local Multiple Listing Service Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), to recognize homes achieving 15 or 20 percent energy savings. • Partnering with investor-owned utilities, cooperative utilities, and nonprofit organizations across the state to implement and promote Illinois Home Performance to homeowners and home performance contractors. • Engaging industry professionals to design continuing education courses that will support an infrastructure of trained real estate brokers, managing brokers, and appraisers in Illinois who are knowledgeable about recent innovations in the residential energy 2 ------- efficiency market and the process of designating value for common energy upgrade measures. • Providing low-cost, one-day trainings for 220 contractors, focusing on topics such as advanced air sealing techniques, diagnostic energy testing, and marketing strategies, and offering participating contractors in Illinois Home Performance no-cost access to the 24-hour Building Science Hotline. 3 ------- |