As our industry shifts toward decarbonization and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction as viable savings metrics, everything old is new again. Energy efficiency and load management have been our bread and butter for decades. But today, our work isn’t just about reducing kilowatt hours and therms or dropping peak; it’s much more than that. We’re combining energy efficiency and load management with beneficial electrification and distributed energy resources (DER) to significantly contribute to GHG reduction and the meaningful abatement of global warming.
As a company committed to driving equity, resiliency, and becoming net-zero by 2025, our interest in this evolving solution design is personal. Our work through our clients, as detailed in our Sustainability Report, resulted in the reduction of 23.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
And we’re just getting started.
Simple
What made legacy direct install programs effective was their simplicity – schedule an energy assessment, get some inexpensive products installed during the visit, and possibly connect with a defined contractor network for major measure upgrades later. It was quick and easy. As program designs become more complex, however, so too do the assessments, measures, and timelines. We’ve worked tirelessly to prioritize the customer experience and make the complex simple—and we have the industry awards to prove it. Whether that’s analytics to narrow marketing and outreach to those best suited to participate, energy model-backed virtual assessment tools that speed up the in-person process, or standard measure packages and powerful recommendation engines to make it as easy to buy a heat pump as it is to buy an LED, our priority is to re-orient program delivery around the customer to increase conversion rates and satisfaction.
CASE STUDY:Providing Unique Solutions for a Diverse Small Business Market
WHITE PAPER:Designing Virtual Assessments that Work
EBOOK:
Innovating and Iterating
Accessible
Decarbonization projects can result in complex recommendations that are inaccessible for many, especially those in disadvantaged communities. We work closely with community-based organizations on grassroots outreach to build authentic connections, educate, and drive program awareness. Then we take it a step further to streamline income validation and offer customer-facing marketing materials and technologies, like enrollment and rebate tools, in multiple languages. Our project recommendations address underlying health and safety issues, focus on resiliency concerns, and prioritize education, in addition to including energy efficiency, load management, and electrification measures. We bundle and phase the recommendations in a way that minimizes project timelines and automates messaging journeys to maintain communication and conversions over time.
CASE STUDY:
Serving Low-Income Communities Through Health, Energy- and Water-Efficient Upgrades
EBOOK:
Residential Measured Pay-for-Performance Delivers Grid Reliability
Affordable
Decarbonization projects can be complex and many technologies rely on incentives to make the projects affordable and accessible. We take a holistic approach to recommendations—taking advantage of clean gas and electric technologies, integrated technology, and other creative approaches to program delivery such as pre-negotiated volume-based pricing with trade allies—to meet our clients’ goals while remaining within their customers’ budgets. Our project recommendations pair measures in a phased approach that prioritizes the most pressing needs first, reduces total project cost, and takes advantage of multiple funding and financing streams.
BLOG:
How to Lower Costs and Streamline the Customer Journey with a Closed Trade Ally Network
CASE STUDY:
Reducing Communications Energy Costs and Consumption
Scalable
What shifts a decarbonization program from something that’s great in theory to something that’s great in practice is ready access to relevant products and the qualified contractors to install them. Some contractors don’t feel comfortable with new technology like EVSE and cold climate air source heat pumps, and supply chains are not yet mature, so contractor adoption of these new technologies can be low. For many contractors, the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC trades aren’t housed in the same business, which makes deep retrofit projects challenging to pull off. As the only implementer in the industry with an integrated products division and in-house supply chain with warehouses on both coasts, we’re the product provider of choice for more than 500 contractor businesses. Add to that our extensive trade ally network and workforce development experience in challenging markets, and it’s clear—we’re uniquely qualified to ensure your programs can scale.
CASE STUDY:
Utilizing Workforce Development to Deliver Non-Wires Alternatives