Efficiency First

Efficiency First’s Best Practice Working Groups

Monthly Digest – November 2010

What our nine Best Practice working groups have been working on:

Business Models

1. Final Stages for two white papers
   • In-home protocol on how to up-sell
   • Guidelines for effective business practices – How to run a business  201/301

Finance and Incentives

1. Successful completion of  Finance Webinar outlining options for contractors
2. Comprehensive spreadsheet comparing all available financing options for energy  upgrades
3. Position paper and series of recommendations on the new FHA PowerSaver financing pilot program

Labor and Industry

1. Report on the Economic Impact of Residential Energy Efficiency Programs
2. Finalized a Definition of Industry terms such as living wage, market wages, benefits, responsible contracting & minority favor-ability

Low-Income Weatherization

1. DOE Letter on weatherization assistance program

Marketing

1. Completion of a Tri-fold brochure to be distributed by members in order to help them sell whole-house retrofits to potential clients
   • PDF version and Web friendly .html version
2. Continued ongoing efforts to create greater presence on Wikipedia

Multi-Family Homes

1. Defining the Mission and Objective of the group
2. Continuing to develop the Multi-Family Homes white paper
3. Recommendations for tackling obstacles to market expansion

Real Estate

1. Finalizing the position paper on home labeling
2. Series of Recommendations on the SAVE Act
3. Working with the National Association of REALTORS
   • Multiple Listing Service (MLS) toolkit
   • Upcoming Webinar: “What is a MLS and What Makes one Green?”

Software and Technology

1. Final stages of Software credential worksheet
2. Conducting ensemble test research project
3. Conducting contractor interaction with software programs project
4. Developing a policy statement of software issues: interoperability, competitiveness and innovation
5. Final stages of HPXML software standards matrix project

Workforce Development

1. Launched the Home Performance Job search database
2. Developing a toolkit outlining the most successful hiring process

We are continually working hard to develop a thriving Home Performance industry and if you would like to join any of the nine working groups that we support, we’d love to have you on board.

For more information on Efficiency First’s Best Practice working groups, check out http://www.efficiencyfirst.org/take-action/best-practices/.

If you’d like to contribute in one of our working groups, send an e-mail to internpolicy@efficiencyfirst.org.