In the fall of 2013, iSpring conducted an evaluation of the residential EnergyWorks program, a five-county energy efficiency program led by the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (MOS) and funded by a grant from the Department of Energy as part of the Better Buildings Neighborhood Program (BBNP).
EnergyWorks was one of many programs funded through BBNP and focused on the following goals:
- Grow the market for energy efficiency in the Greater Philadelphia Region
- Expand the number of contractors in the private energy efficiency industry
- Complete 2,000 energy efficient retrofits of private residential homes
The first phase of the program ended on September 30, 2013, and iSpring spent several months analyzing available program data and interviewing program partners, key personnel, and auditors and contractors participating in the program. iSpring identified key trends in the data as it related to auditors, contractors, audit completions, retrofit completions, loans, costs and energy savings. Additionally, iSpring evaluated the program’s impact against its stated goals and found that the program met most of its goals.
To complete the analysis, the team compared EnergyWorks to other comparable BBNP programs. These programs varied widely in structure and results and presented a survey of different ways to approach an energy efficiency program. Based on the comprehensive analysis, iSpring developed a set of conclusions and lessons learned about what worked well and what could be improved for future programs. The conclusions cover topics related to administrative structure, auditor and contractor management, customer interaction, conversion rates, data collection and funding.
“iSpring became quickly familiar with our program and dug deep into the data to perform a detailed analysis. The end product was a well prepared and in-depth evaluation report that provided our team with new insights and valuable recommendations,”
– Katherine Gajewski, Former Sustainability Director, City of Philadelphia
You can read a condensed version of the final report below: