Posted
on November 3, 2011, 10:29 am,
by lunar,
under
News,
Webinar.
The recording for our latest Webinar “Getting to Fair Cost Effectiveness Testing” is now available! Many thanks to our panelists who were able to provide some valuable insight on the problems with current cost-effectiveness tests and discuss solutions for fair cost effectiveness testing.
Efficiency First members, click here to access the audio file as well as the accompanying PowerPoint presentation in PDF format.
Non-members can access the recording by clicking here. Non-members have access to the recording and PowerPoint presentation for up to 30 days.
Posted
on October 24, 2011, 2:37 pm,
by lunar,
under
News,
Webinar.
Please check out our upcoming webinar!
“Getting to Fair Cost Effectiveness Testing”
Thursday, October 27th at 1:00PM EASTERN / 10:00AM PACIFIC
FREE for Efficiency First Members: Click here to log-in to your account and register.
Non-Member Registration: Non-Efficiency First Members are invited to join this webinar for a $50 fee. Please click here to access non-member registration.
Panelists will reference a recent report issued by the National Home Performance Resource Council titled “Getting to Fair Cost-Effectiveness Testing – Using the PACT, Best Practices for the TRC, and Beyond.” The report outlines three key improvements to current cost-effectiveness tests – used by public utility commissions to approve ratepayer-funded utility energy efficiency programs.
During this webinar, panelists will discuss the problems with current cost-effectiveness tests and discuss solutions for fair cost effectiveness testing. Home performance professionals will have an opportunity to engage with experts to change the cost effectiveness testing and learn how they can help.
Panelists:
Kara Rinaldi: Governmental Affairs Consultant of Efficiency First, Inc.
Robin LeBaron: Managing Director of the National Home Performance Council
Sammy Chu: Project Director of the Long Island Green Homes Initiative
Steve Cowell: Founder and CEO of Conservation Services Group
Stephen McKenna: Director of Efficiency of Murtha Construction
This webinar will be approximately 90 min and and now qualifies for up to 1.5 BPI CEUs.
If you are having trouble accessing your account or the webinar please send an email to info@efficiencyfirst.org.
Posted
on October 19, 2011, 4:33 pm,
by coby,
under
News.
Washington, DC – October 19, 2011 –Efficiency First, a trade association of home performance contractors from across the country, applauds Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) for their bipartisan bill to encourage investment in home energy efficiency. Senators Bennet and Isakson will introduce the “Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act” or “SAVE Act” at a press conference this afternoon.
“Considering energy costs during the appraisal process will encourage investment in energy efficiency and will put our contractors and energy auditors – hit particularly hard by the recession – back to work. This is an important contribution to the development of a clean economy infrastructure,” said Greg Thomas, CEO of Performance Systems Development and Chairman of Efficiency First.
The SAVE Act would require federal loan agencies to include projected energy costs when financing a house – essentially offering better mortgage values on properties that are more energy efficient. It would also allow U.S. homeowners to finance cost-effective home energy upgrades as part of their traditional mortgage, thereby improving access to the comfort and money-saving benefits of efficiency without increasing the cost of homeownership.
“The Realtor brand is all about supporting home ownership. No one wants a client in over their heads. For federal loan products, the SAVE Act would look at mortgage costs, plus energy efficiency when available,” said Laura Stukel, NAR Green and EcoBroker Certified Realtor and Chair of Efficiency First’s Real Estate Working Group. “At no cost to taxpayers, this legislation will help home buyers make smarter choices. This is why Efficiency First’s Real Estate Working Group supports the SAVE Act.”
The mortgage industry traditionally has not examined energy costs in the determination of a home’s value. However, the average homeowner spends more on their energy bills than on either real estate taxes or home insurance, both of which are regularly accounted for in mortgage underwriting.
Today’s press conference will highlight the benefits of the SAVE Act in terms of improved underwriting, energy efficiency and job creation. An Efficiency First representative is available for comment.
Media Contact
Lizzie Bunnen
301.717.2838
Posted
on October 13, 2011, 4:39 pm,
by lunar,
under
News.
Good news out there for green homeowners: there’s now a tool available to help describe the value of energy-saving features in the appraisal of their homes. The nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers , the Appraisal Institute, has published an addendum to Fannie Mae’s Form 1004. Form 1004 is the industry’s mostly widely used appraisal form for mortgage lending purposes. As it stands, the form does not focus on energy efficiency features of a house, such as solar panels, high-efficiency windows, or energy efficient appliances. This means that homeowners are often frustrated by the fact that their green investments are not reflected in the value of their homes.
The three-page addendum is a step towards addressing the problem. It helps appraisers identify and describe the energy-saving aspects of green homes and any relevant green certifications. While there’s no guarantee that this will raise the value of the property, appraisers can now at least point out the energy efficient features of a home. Those with training in green valuations can convert monthly savings on utility bills into a specific value adjustment, taking into account local market housing prices.
Contractors can get involved to support home owner value. Contractors involved with energy efficiency upgrades have first-hand knowledge of the information appraisers are looking for on the addendum. They can help homeowners by providing details on information that could be added to the form when the homeowner wishes to refinance or resell the property.
As a best practice, contractors could provide homeowners with information specifically on insulation upgrades, energy audit results and other installed measures. The comments fields in each section provides space to elaborate on check boxes or to add details that could influence value in your market or region which are not otherwise noted on the addendum.
The addendum is available here.
Posted
on October 6, 2011, 5:05 pm,
by lunar,
under
News.
Green homeowners and the home performance industry have won a small but potentially important victory against the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA). A U.S. district court judge has ruled against the FHFA regarding the agency’s recent comments on Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. In July 2010, the FHFA released a statement that the PACE poses “significant safety and soundness concerns” to mortgage lenders, essentially halting additional PACE funding from lenders. The State of California and several other entities brought a suit against the FHFA alleging that the agency violated federal and administrative laws and misled mortgage lenders. In the August 26 ruling, Judge Claudia Wilken denied the FHFA’s request to dismiss the case and ordered the agency to hold a notice and comment period to seek public input on the matter. Similar suits are pending in several other states, including New York and Florida.
The ruling is a welcome response to the supporters of the PACE financing, which allows homeowners to borrow money from local governments to retrofit their homes and pay back the amount owed on their property tax bills. Launched in 2008, PACE was functional and active in 22 states and the District of Columbia, but has slowed considerably since the FHFA pronouncement. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, leading mortgage lenders under the conservatorship of the FHFA, were the first to refuse to purchase mortgages with PACE financing. Other mortgage lenders soon followed suit. Their reasoning behind this decision was that because, in many cases, PACE liens had priority over mortgage loans, this may pose a risk to those who used mortgage loans as investment vehicles.
While the ruling has allowed the case against the FHFA to move forward, the issue is far from being resolved and does not signal the revival of PACE lending. The FHFA has yet to appeal the decision. Should the agency not appeal, the case will progress to the notice and comment period. Check back for updates as this case continues to develop.
Posted
on October 6, 2011, 5:04 pm,
by lunar,
under
News.
Governor Jerry Brown is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to come up with a way to extend a longstanding electric surcharge used to fund energy efficiency projects. The public goods charge, set to expire this year, is a 1.5% tax on electricity bills that has been around since 1996. The average utility customer is charged a small fee of $1 to $2 on each electric bill. In total, the surcharge generates $400 million annually, $250 million of which goes directly to utility customers who purchase energy efficient appliances or retrofit their homes and businesses.
But this funding is currently under threat. Because the charge is technically considered a tax, a two-thirds vote was required by the California legislature for renewal and the bill failed to get the necessary number of votes. Governor Jerry Brown is asking the PUC to levy a fee to replace the expiring surcharge. There are also efforts to rewrite the bill so as to require a simple-majority vote, rather than two-thirds.
In a letter addressed to Brown, Commission President Michael Peevey stated he will open up a formal proceeding to consider alternatives to pay for the energy efficiency programs previously funded by the surcharge.
Posted
on October 6, 2011, 4:59 pm,
by kace,
under
News.
Hang out in energy efficiency circles these days, and you’re bound to hear about “cost-effectiveness.” Cost-effectiveness is a major consideration for public utility commissions to approve utility energy efficiency programs, so using the most appropriate test is critical to growing the residential energy efficiency space.
But current cost-effectiveness tests do not always fit today’s home performance industry. Says Steve Cowell of Conservation Services Group:
Another concern with current deployment of the TRC is that while the calculations usually include all the costs, including consumers’ own investments, they rarely include all benefits that accrue to the consumer and society, such as environmental improvement, health and safety, operation and maintenance improvements, and protection from energy cost volatility. Price volatility is exacerbated when regulators use unreasonable discount rates and underestimate long-term energy costs. This flawed analysis leads to defective policy. At the very least, cost-effectiveness needs to be calculated on a program-wide or even portfolio basis, not at individual projects or measures, and include all benefits as well as all costs.
The National Home Performance Council (NHPC) just released a report on cost-effectiveness with three key recommendations to improve cost-effectiveness tests of ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs.
TRC vs. PAC
The study notes a major shortcoming of the commonly used Total Resource Cost (TRC) test — that it doesn’t account for non-energy benefits to the customer and society, like quality of life improvements, increased energy cost stability, job creation and economic development, and financial savings. Those factors are very important but difficult to quantify. The report first suggests substituting the Program Administrator Cost (PAC) test as the main cost-effectiveness test where feasible. The PAC includes costs incurred by the program administrator like incentives, which are not accounted for in the TRC test but are key to helping utilities compare energy efficiency costs with other resources.
Improve the TRC
In places where it’s not feasible to use the PAC test and to improve the TRC test in general, the study secondly outlines a suite of best practices to standardize application of the TRC. These include incorporating appropriate costs and discount rates, evaluating cost-effectiveness measures on realistic time scales, and practicing fuel neutrality.
Here’s an assessment of effective useful life (EUL) measures, another issue addressed in the best practices:
EULs range substantially, depending on the product and the manufacturer: a CFL might typically last between five and ten years, while a window might function for up to 75 years, and building insulation 100 years or more. Many programs, however, cap EULs at around 20 years (Hall et al. 2008), both because of the expectation that homeowners may replace measures prior to the end of their EUL, and because the discount rates frequently used by programs devalue savings that continue beyond 25 years. For the purposes of cost-effectiveness testing, this significantly reduces the value of measures with long useful lives. Such measures include a number that are significant for whole-house upgrades, notably insulation.
Equalize demand- and supply-side resources
Since utilities’ incentives are tied to providing rather than avoiding energy, programs that promote energy efficiency are inherently disadvantaged. Industry growth depends on a market benefit for “producing” energy efficiency. So the report’s third recommendation is to develop utility incentive strategies to equalize the value of demand- and supply-side resources. Fairer competition between resources will promote energy efficiency programs and help grow the industry.
As next steps, the study suggests further research on the three recommendations as well as stakeholder engagement to mobilize public policy. Inform yourself and check out the report: “
Getting to Fair Cost-Effectiveness Testing.”
For more information, Efficiency First recently hosted a webinar that discussed the problems with current cost-effectiveness tests and solutions for fair cost effectiveness testing. To view a recording of the webinar, please click here.
Posted
on October 4, 2011, 5:05 pm,
by lunar,
under
News.
On September 13, the Kansas Commerce Department returned $1.5 million of an original $22 million in American Recovery and Reinvestmant ACT (AARA) funds taken from Efficiency Kansas in July. The $1.5 million is expected to cover the costs of all pending loan applications in Kansas for home performance improvements to houses and small businesses. While pending applications will be processed on a first-come first-serve basis, others interested in participating in the loan program will have to wait for further funding to be secured.
As of July, a total of $22 million remained in AARA funds allocated to Efficiency Kansas through the Department of Energy (DOE). Despite significant progress from Efficiency Kansas since its inception in June, Governor Brownback’s administration decided in July that the Chapter would not be able to spend the full amount of the stimulus money by the DOE’s April 1, 2012 deadline. As a result, the governor reallocated all $22 million in Recovery Act funds to various projects aimed at bolstering the alternative fuel industry in Kansas. The $1.5 million recently returned to Efficiency Kansas is the result of the chapter pressuring the governor’s administration to return enough funds to process all pending applications for home performance retrofits in the state.
While it is disappointing that the original funding of $22 million was pulled from Efficiency Kansas, the $1.5 million that was recently given back to the program represents a small victory. No further AARA money will be available to fund the program, but the Chapter is in talks with local utilities and private financial institutions to provide low-interest loans to property owners interested in home performance upgrades. The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) has recently sent out a “request for proposals” seeking additional funds to accelerate and expand private sector involvement in the program.
As a result of taking their case for increased ARRA funding to the governor’s office, Efficiency First Kansas City has increased public awareness of the home performance industry, and also started to develop some valuable partnerships with utilities and local government — the kinds of efforts that can expand and accelerate public and private investments in the industry.
Visit www.efficiencyfirst.org/chapters/kansascity to learn more.
Posted
on September 23, 2011, 4:38 pm,
by coby,
under
News.
Check out our upcoming webinar… first one of the season!
“How to Hire a Home Performance Super Star: Best Practices for Building Your Home Performance Team”
Non-Member Registration: Non-Efficiency First Members are invited to join this webinar for a $50 fee. Please click here access non-member registration.
This webinar will provide participants with strategies on how to best hire professionals to fit you company’s needs. Topics will include: leveraging hiring incentives; accessing Efficiency First’s Hiring Toolkit – which provides effective ways to attract and screen the right candidates; and ways that job training programs can work well with Home Performance companies to offer opportunities to qualified job seekers. The webinar will also discuss stackable credentials, and will point participants to online job tools available for Home Performance professionals and companies.
Panelists:
Elena Foshay: Program Director of Rising Sun Energy Center
Kif Scheuer: Sustainable Communities Program Director of Strategic Energy Innovations
John Mello: Green Project Director of Baltimore Center for Green Careers
Rob Minnick: General Manager of Minnick’s Heating and Air
Tiger Adolf: Western Regional Director of Building Performance Institute
This webinar will be approximately 90 min. CEUs for this webinar have not yet been confirmed. Click here for updates on CEUs.
If you are having trouble accessing your account or the webinar please send an email to info@efficiencyfirst.org.
Posted
on August 26, 2011, 2:44 pm,
by coby,
under
News.
In today’s heated Washington, DC environment, it’s not often that groups like the Center for American Progress and the Chamber of Commerce are on the same page. But that’s what is happening with the “SAVE” Act (Sensible Accounting to Value Energy), which could be a key long-term driver of growth in energy efficiency retrofits.
Check it out:
The “Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act,” or SAVE Act, which is expected to be introduced this fall by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), would require federal loan agencies to include projected energy costs when financing a house, essentially offering better mortgage values on properties that are more energy efficient.
The U.S. Chamber says the relatively simple bill stands a chance in a tight-fisted and bitterly divided Congress.
“The chamber supports energy efficiency. More importantly, we realized that with the new Congress and political dynamic, it was important to figure out policies and bills that we thought were not only good, but realistic given the fiscal constraint,” said Ross Eisenberg, environment and energy counsel at the U.S. Chamber.
This bill, he said, “promotes efficiency and transparency while not costing the taxpayers anything.”
Currently, property appraisers consider identically sized residences the same, regardless of whether one might offer significant savings on energy bills, said Bob Sahadi, director of energy efficiency finance policy for the nonprofit Institute for Market Transformation (IMT).
“Right now, [appraisers] don’t know how to evaluate the energy efficiency of a home because it’s not something they can feel and touch,” said Sahadi, whose group is spearheading the bill. “We have come up with something that’s really an old concept, which is adding the net present value of energy savings to the appraisal. If a home has energy savings of $200 a month, that’s income that’s available and … added to the appraised value.”
Efficiency First supports the SAVE Act, and we’ll be keeping members up to speed as the bill gains more traction.
Copyright © 2009 Efficiency First ·
Powered by