Review the presentation from an Efficiency Cities Network roundtable Earth Markets participated in on June 8, 2010 about marketing, entitled "Mainstreaming Market Demand."
Below are a sampling of recent projects including the "Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge," a comprehensive program model for residential energy efficiency, and a national precedent for residential participation in energy efficiency credit markets.
Earth Markets developed a comprehensive community-based residential energy efficiency program, the “Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge” with several best-in-class non-profit, for-profit, academic and state organizations for marketing, community outreach, behavior strategies, energy efficiency lending, measurement & verification, and performance incentives.
The program is designed to accelerate demand for a portfolio of efficiency and clean energy actions - from simple conservation steps and lighting to ultimate home retrofits and solar installations. It offers a scalable approach to residential energy efficiency by employing a community action platform to reach consumers, combined with marketing, consumer financing, and the sale of aggregated energy savings in emerging environmental markets.
Program Goals
Target participation of 10% of households to set specific, measurable stretch goals of 20% of energy savings and clean energy usage, providing a portfolio of actions and support to help achieve those goals.
Communities
Earth Markets recruited 14 municipalities in Connecticut to participate in a pilot and jointly apply for federal funding. These communities are clustered in 4 regions of the state and represent a total population of 260,000 residents with about 100,000 homes in a mix of suburban densities and rural settings.
Approach
Community-based social marketing strategies and...Performance-baswed rewards at the municipal level to...Accelerate and aggregate demand for residential programs then...Track and report back to towns and residents their collective outcomes The key to this approach to get residents on a "food chain of sustainable energy usage" and motivate them to take initial easier actions - then continue to engage with them to increase their levels of energy savings and clean energy usage through a comprehensive portfolio of affordable actions that are supported by marketing, outreach and behavioral strategies.
Partners Earth Markets has collaborated with the following best-in-class partners to develop this program model for Connecticut communities: AFC First Financial, Clean Water Fund, Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund, Efficiency 2.0, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SmartPower, and Student Conservation Association.
National Precedence for Residential Participation in Energy Efficiency Credit Markets
The Connecticut Community Energy Savings Project is an effort by Earth Markets to help residential electricity customers participate in environmental markets – like renewable portfolio standards (RPS), energy efficiency resource standards (EERS), and carbon offset projects. By allowing residential ratepayers an opportunity to participate in these markets through aggregation of verified energy savings, policymakers can turn a public policy cost into a public policy benefit.
In Connecticut, Earth Markets helped establish a national precedent for aggregating residential energy and demand savings through the Class III RPS – the state’s EERS – that allows households an opportunity to participate and benefit from the emerging environmental markets for clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate change.
As the U.S. debates energy and climate change policy, it should be acknowledged that residential customers should be able to participate in the environmental markets that these public policies propose to institute.
In Connecticut, a leading state in clean energy, energy efficiency and climate change, there is an engaged citizenry at the community level focused on taking action to help our state transition to a 21st century clean energy economy. In 2005, the Connecticut Clean Energy Communities program was launched by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. This program was created by Earth Markets Co-Founder and Chief Community Officer, Bryan Garcia, as a way to engage and reward local citizens to support clean energy through municipal resolutions and sign-ups to the CTCleanEnergyOptions program.
Through the Connecticut Community Energy Savings Project, Earth Markets proposes to work with local citizen leaders in Connecticut’s Clean Energy Communities to advance residential energy efficiency initially through the installation of energy star compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Earth Markets seeks to demonstrate through a pilot project that renewable energy credits can be created and sold into the market through the aggregation of residential energy savings from more efficient lighting.