To address the expensive and complex challenges of managing energy data, EnergySavvy today launched its Partner Program. The program aims to transform how utilities and trade allies can work together more effectively to accelerate energy efficiency.

The Partner Program enables vendors of energy audit software to work seamlessly with EnergySavvy’s flagship product, Optix, an energy efficiency management system.

EnergySavvy CEO, Aaron Goldfeder, explains:  ”The industry is clamoring for transparency and better quantification of energy efficiency and until now it’s been far too complex and expensive. EnergySavvy’s Partner Program enables utilities and contractors to work together in a more business-friendly way through best-of-breed software while avoiding unnecessary costs and IT risk. We’re honored to work with some of the best diagnostic software companies to embrace and bring open standards to the market.”

Launch Partners

The audit tool vendors that have already signed on to the EnergySavvy Partner Program include Center for Energy and Environment, Energy Design Systems, OptiMiser and Snugg Home. EnergySavvy expects to announce additional partners in the coming weeks.

“We are excited to partner with EnergySavvy’s Optix Audit Partner Program as a way of expanding the value and market penetration of our innovative miScore mobile app development.  We look forward to working with EnergySavvy to build a highly integrated and versatile product based on use of the HPXML open standard.  This partnership definitely is a win-win for both of our organizations.” —Richard Szydlowski, Director of Engineering

“Energy Design System is proud to be working with Energy Savvy and our corporate partners Rheem and Knauf to support the HPXML standard.” – Phil Jeffers, President

“We’re excited about the potential to help more auditors, reach more homeowners, and save more energy through the Optix Audit Partner Program. The adaptability of the Optix platform is a great match for OptiMiser’s versatile and modular auditing tools.” –Andy Bardwell, CEO

“Snugg Home is thrilled to partner with Energy Savvy. The Snugg Pro platform is ideally suited to integrate with third party APIs and the HPXML standard. Energy Savvy’s Optix software aligns perfectly with our mission to streamline the energy retrofit process for contractors. This partnership will help ensure that the days of double data entry for contractors are over for good.” —Adam Stenftenagel, CEO

HPXML at the Core

At the core of the partner program is support for HPXML, a technical standard embraced by the Building Performance Institute (BPI) for data collection and exchange. HPXML has a critical role to play in standardization of software tools across all residential audit and measure-based energy efficiency programs – it lets industry software “talk” to other industry software using the same terms and in the same way.

Benefits for Utilities

Leveraging an Energy Efficiency Management System with seamless “out-of-the-box” integration to audit software lowers cost, reduces overhead, avoids painful integration and improves the experiences of trade allies.

Benefits for Contractors

This industry partnership means “one and done” data entry, reducing the time and expense required of contractors.

Benefits for Audit Providers

Open standards keep audit providers from having to perform multiple one-off integrations to each different utility program.

About EnergySavvy

EnergySavvy enables utility energy efficiency programs to drive more energy savings per dollar, increase customer satisfaction and achieve evaluation-ready quantification. EnergySavvy’s flagship product, Optix, is an Energy Efficiency Management System that brings utilities, their customers and trade allies onto a common platform. Founded in 2008 in Seattle, EnergySavvy Optix powers leading utility energy efficiency programs across the country including Tennessee Valley Authority, Long Island Power Authority, CPS Energy and Puget Sound Energy.

Carla De La Chapa, Energy Savers Program Manager for CPS Energy of San Antonio, shares best practices for engaging customers online. Carla will discuss how CPS Energy tripled the number of completed retrofits within the Energy Savers program while reducing the cost to acquire a retrofit by nearly 8 times compared with an in-home audit alone.

The complimentary webinar will take place on Wednesday, April 17 from 10:00 – 10:45 am PDT / 1:00 – 1:45 pm EDT.

>> Registration is open <<

Using a low-cost incentive to encourage customers, CPS has driven over 11,000 online energy audit completions during a 9-month period. Of all participating Energy Savers customers, 92 percent opted for the online audit as their first step vs. starting with an in-home audit.

While in-home audits have a place among energy efficiency programs, the data shows that online audits are a more effective way to pre-screen and enroll customers. The result? More retrofits at a lower cost per customer acquisition.

To learn the details, join Carla De La Chapa from CPS Energy as she discusses:

• – Optimizing online customer engagement
• – Reaching more customers for EE programs
• – Driving down cost per acquired retrofit

Register for the CPS Energy online engagement webinar today!

EnergySavvy is proud to announce that Minnesota Energy Resources, a division of Integrys (NYSE: TEG), is the latest investor-owned utility to adopt Optix Engage.  Partnering with lead program implementer Applied Energy Group, Minnesota Energy Resources has embraced Optix Engage as an intuitive and friendly customer experience to educate homeowners and increase customer satisfaction.

Optix Engage enables the utility to interact with its 211,000 natural gas customers to provide information on home efficiency and rebate programs. The tool guides customers down the road to energy efficiency and provides utility marketers with actionable intelligence.

The Minnesota Energy Resources implementation of Optix Engage focuses on natural gas-saving measures such as high-efficiency furnaces and water heaters.

“We chose Optix Engage because it is a highly effective enrollment tool that also provides a great experience for our customers,” said Jim Phillippo, Program Manager, Energy Efficiency Programs at Minnesota Energy Resources. “It helps us run cost-effective energy efficiency programs for our natural gas customers.”

EnergySavvy continues rapid growth

EnergySavvy has grown quickly over the last year and has recently made a significant investment in its business development and account management capabilities. Two new regional Directors of Client Solutions and a Director of Product Marketing join a growing team, bringing additional horsepower to the company.

“It’s an exciting time at EnergySavvy, and I’m thrilled to welcome Gabriel, Jeff and Dan,” said CEO Aaron Goldfeder. “As a software product company, our success relies on close, collaborative partnerships with our customers.  Our client solutions team is focused on delivering innovative solutions to the energy efficiency challenges of an increasingly large and diverse set of utilities.”

Gabriel Scheer joins EnergySavvy as Director of Client Solutions for the Northwest, responsible for managing and growing the company’s utility customer base throughout the region. Prior to EnergySavvy, Scheer headed Re-Vision Labs, a social innovation consultancy, and was General Manager for Zipcar’s Southern California region.

Jeff Soplop has also joined the team as Director of Client Solutions and will support the company’s growing utility customer base in the Southeast U.S. Before joining EnergySavvy, he led development and delivery of energy solutions and analytics for Phoenix Energy Technologies and Rockwell Automation.

As Director of Product Marketing, Dan Zasloff will be responsible for the EnergySavvy brand and growing the company’s profile among utilities nationwide. Previously in senior marketing roles at Bloom Energy, 3Degrees and Seattle-based Varolii Corporation, Zasloff brings years of energy and utility industry experience to EnergySavvy.

For the next two weeks, anyone who refers a developer or designer candidate to EnergySavvy who’s hired gets a Smart Car!

Is that you in there? It could be!

Why are we giving away cars for tech hires? What is this, 1999 all over again?

If you’re a techie in Seattle, you know the answer. The demand for the best developers and designers in Seattle is huge.

In the past, we’ve taken the well-trodden route of paying recruiters to troll LinkedIn, but we know that developers get sick of all the LinkedIn spam they get every day. We’d rather enlist all of Seattle to be our recruiters. We figure this makes our odds better.

And that’s where you come in. Refer your friends, family, or that random person you just met on the street that knows how to code. Not to say that we’ll take just anyone. Our hiring bar is, and will continue to be, very high. But if we do hire your candidate, you’ll get a fuel-efficient Smart Car, your friend gets a job with a cool tech company that is making a difference in energy efficiency and climate change, and EnergySavvy keeps growing. That’s what we call a win-win-win.

How to enter:

Contact us at joinus@energysavvy.com with an email introduction to the person you’re referring. Please put “EnergySavvy Referral” in the subject line, and include your referral’s email address in the body of the email.

The promo is only open to referrals for these positions:

1. Lead Designer
2. Senior Software Engineer
3. Software Engineer

Here’s the fine print:

The promo is open to anyone in the U.S. who refers a developer or designer candidate. Eligible positions are listed under “Design” and “Engineering” on www.energysavvy.com/jobs/current-openings/. To enter, email us at joinus@energysavvy.com with an email introduction to your referral. Candidates who apply without a referrer aren’t eligible. If your referral is hired and still employed at EnergySavvy after 90 days, we’ll provide you with the cash to buy a 2013 Smart Fortwo Pure coupe. Don’t want a car? We’ll give you a $14,000 cash prize instead. We’ll accept referrals until Tuesday, March 26^th If anything else comes up that is questionable, we’ll use our discretion to sort it out.

This promo is not sponsored or endorsed by Smart USA.

Stimulus job growth in Seattle accompanies growth in program participation

A new independent evaluation report has been released for Community Power Works, one of the major energy efficiency programs funded by ARRA’s Better Buildings Neighborhood Program.

The Fall 2012 Progress Report, prepared by the Washington State University (WSU) Energy Program, details the rapid learning and adaptability demonstrated by Seattle’s Community Power Works to transform its program delivery model, increasing the number of participating homes by a factor of twelve from September 2011 to September 2012. Community Power Works reports that the program has doubled since and is now completing nearly 100 projects per month, a 25x increase since 2011.

As one of EnergySavvy’s early Optix Manage customers, EnergySavvy is thrilled to celebrate the success of Community Power Works. The WSU report highlights EnergySavvy’s role in the program: “The EnergySavvy platform provided comprehensive intake, project management services, data and real-time analytics services and was an integral part of program service and delivery.”

Beyond its partnership with EnergySavvy, Community Power Works made important adjustments to improve its home retrofit program over time, including simplifying incentives, streamlining program delivery and targeting homeowners with oil heated houses.

Simplifying incentives

The initial incentive structure, based on estimated carbon savings per project, was difficult for contractors to explain, for homeowners to understand and for program administrators to manage. In January 2012, the program redesigned their incentive to revolve around estimated energy saved rather than estimated carbon saved.

Figure 1. Original incentive with estimates for a sample project compared to the simplified current incentive

Note:  The sample Estimated Carbon Fund Payment in the original incentive structure (top) provides example savings only. The payment was calculated at $10 per ton of lifetime carbon reduction for a measure as modeled by a test-in audit. The complexity of the incentive calculation made it difficult for contractors to communicate a simple rebate structure when marketing the program.

Streamlining program delivery

The City of Seattle, Cascadia Consulting Group and EnergySavvy have worked to continuously improve customer management and program reporting, including significant process changes:

1. Seamlessly transitioned from two different service models to a single, streamlined workflow
2. Adapted customer management to track lagging customers in innovative ways, increasing program activity and throughput
3. Integrated Optix API with a third-party system to allow automated data and document exchange

Targeting homeowners with oil heated homes for weatherization improvements

One in seven single-family Seattle homes is heated with fuel oil. Community Power Works saw a huge carbon savings opportunity for the program by specifically targeting these homeowners.

Given the high cost of fuel oil and the lack of utility incentives to support energy efficiency upgrades, Community Power Works decided to match regional electric and gas utility rebates for insulation and weatherization, offer up to an additional $1,200 rebate for switching from oil heat to a high-efficiency electric or gas system, and provide a $500 rebate to pay for oil tank decommissioning. This promotion was announced through a direct mail campaign in February 2012. As of November 2012, 60% of homes in the pipeline had oil heat, up from just 21% prior to the oil heating campaign.

Figure 2. Direct mail letter from the City of Seattle office of Sustainability & Environment with best practices highlighted

Click thumbnail to read letter with best practices highlighted.

To learn more about Seattle’s Community Power Works and its achievements over the past year, read the full Fall 2012 Progress Report.

We’re big fans of the Affordable Comfort Institute (ACI), an organization that supports the building performance industry, so we wanted to let you know about the ACI Northwest Home Performance Conference on Feb. 5-6 in Seattle.

ACI is known for offering excellent educational content for both home performance professionals as well as utility and government professionals who work in energy efficiency.  In fact, EnergySavvy’s Director of Client Engagement Rob McGarty will be participating on a panel that brings Northwest contractors and energy efficiency program managers together to discuss best practices for working together in residential energy efficiency.

Ultimately, the goal of this session is to give both parties an opportunity to discuss how to design residential programs to encorage business growth for contractors while meeting energy efficiency program goals.  This session, “Energy Efficiency Programs & Contractors – How to Work Together for Great Outcomes in Washington State,” will be held at 10:30 a.m., on Tues., Feb. 5.

More about the conference from the organizers:

“The 2013 ACI Northwest Home Performance Conference and Trade Show is a one-of-a-kind event offering educational content on all of the latest cutting-edge technology in the home performance and weatherization industry. But it’s more than that. We delve into best business practices, program updates, and essential building science as well. Then to top it off, ACI offers our attendees unparalleled networking opportunities. Join emerging leaders in this very progressive region as they come together to share tips and discuss everything from the day-to-day challenges to the most current and relevant topics in the industry. If you want to advance your business and compete in this market, you cannot afford to miss this 2-day event in Seattle on February 5–6.”

EnergySavvy welcomes Kalpana Narayanaswamy as Vice President of Engineering. In her role, Narayanaswamy will be joining the leadership team to manage software development alongside CTO Leo Shklovskii.

“We’re thrilled that Kalpana has joined our team,” said Aaron Goldfeder, EnergySavvy CEO. “She brings fantastic technical leadership experience, especially in enterprise software as a service, is experienced with all stages of company growth and raises the bar of an already incredibly talented product development team.”

Narayanaswamy has over 15 years of software development experience. Prior to joining EnergySavvy, she was Director of Engineering and Product Management at Doyenz, responsible for the CloudDR platform and partner relationships. Additionally, she co-founded SynerG, where she led the product strategy and development efforts of a federated data visualization and operational intelligence platform for large-scale enterprises. Prior experience includes eight years at Attachmate.

“I am excited to be joining EnergySavvy, to be part of a team with fantastic talent, great technology and phenomenal market traction,” Narayanaswamy said. “It is an honor to work for a company that has an impact in reducing the carbon footprint to make the world a better place.”

Tennessee Valley Authority Launches on EnergySavvy

A major new customer joined the ranks of EnergySavvy’s clients last week, when Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) launched with Optix Engage, EnergySavvy’s online audit tool.

EnergySavvy won a competitive RFP process earlier this year, and Optix Engage is now available to the customers of 155 local power companies via the company websites that are linked to TVA’s EnergyRight Solutions website. A mail-in paper-based audit is also available as part of the program.

EnergySavvy has grown its team significantly since adding $3 million in fundraising in July 2012 and plans to grow to 40-50 employees in the coming year. To support its expansion, EnergySavvy has moved into the Washington Shoe Building in Seattle’s vibrant Pioneer Square neighborhood, which includes a number of tech companies such as Zynga, Surf Incubator, PayScale, Symform and Identitymine.

Major home renovation and improvement work often happens within the first few years of buying a house, which is why home improvement stores and contractors market specifically to new homeowners within weeks of purchase.

Similarly, utilities and energy efficiency programs around the country have tried to work with realtors to educate and motivate potential homebuyers at the point of sale. However, most initiatives to date have been met with limited successes. We’ve talked with a number of programs, industry experts and realtors around the country to learn why.

Home Realtors and Energy Efficiency

Most energy efficiency programs engaging real estate agents face one of two challenges:

1. Getting real estate agents on board to educate homeowners during real estate transactions.
2. Driving actual retrofits after homeowners are educated.

One example of a program that currently leverages the real estate industry to educate home buyers and sellers is the City of Austin, which started a program in 2009 that requires a home energy audit at the point of sale for homes more than ten years old. The idea behind the program is to encourage energy upgrades to either help sell the home or to encourage homebuyers to make upgrades when they purchase a home in order to maximize the energy efficiency investment.

Austin Realtor Allen Deaver has been involved with Austin home sales requiring these energy audits. Although he has yet to see someone make energy efficiency upgrades because of a point-of-sale energy audit, he said he uses information from the audit, such as a high-SEER air conditioner, to help market and sell the home.

Initial results for the program showed some energy retrofit activity, and there is anecdotal evidence that this audit has helped to shorten the time it takes to sell a home, said Coby Rudolph, Efficiency First’s director of Chapters and Grassroots.

Rudolph has worked with real estate agents and home appraisers to demonstrate that energy efficiency adds value to a home. And while there has been some success in moving the engagement side of the equation forward, getting homeowners to take on projects at the time of sale continues to be a challenge.

“The theory is that if we assign a [home energy] rating scale to give people an understanding of their home’s value, they’ll be encouraged to retrofit their homes either before selling it or after buying it,” Rudolph said. “But I think most people see it as one in a set of drivers [along with others] like comfort, indoor air quality, being proud to be green and saving energy.”

When it comes to engaging the real estate market, Rudolph points to Walk Score’s model of rating the walkability of homes. Walk Score uses publicly available data to assign a score to a home, 1-100, based on the facilities (schools, grocery stores, restaurants) that are in walking distance of the home. A study on the walkability of U.S. cities completed by CEOs for Cities found that one additional Walk Score point is worth as much as an additional $3,000 for a home’s value.

Real estate agents are embracing Walk Score ratings – including them in most Austin listings. Rudolph said he thinks the energy efficiency industry could learn from this model.

Walk Score works for real estate agents because buyers and sellers care about value, and ultimately, real estate agents care about what buyers/sellers care about, said Walk Score co-founder and CTO Matt Lerner.

“Real estate agents are great at understanding the desires of their clients, so the more that clients care about [energy efficiency], the more real estate agents will care,” Lerner said.

An Alternative Model: Buy Low, Sell Efficient

Seattle-based Green Canopy Homes is taking a different approach to marrying energy efficiency and real estate. We asked CEO Aaron Fairchild to share his company’s story. (Full Disclosure: Aaron Fairchild is an EnergySavvy advisor) Here’s what he had to say:

Selling energy efficient and green homes in Seattle sounds oh so…well, Seattle. While it seems like Seattleites would eat this up, they don’t really understand what an energy-efficient existing home is, let alone want to pay more for it. The local Real Estate agent base is even less aware.

Taking a different approach, Green Canopy Homes buys fixers (not foreclosures), gives them an energy efficiency upgrade and then sells them. The process looks a bit like this:

1. Buy the fixer
2. Have a third-party energy audit conducted to baseline the home’s energy profile
3. Conduct an extensive remodel on the home
4. Have a third-party auditor reassess the home’s post-remodel efficiency
5. Sell the upgraded, energy efficient home

By bookending the construction process with energy audits we receive a relatively accurate profile of the home’s final energy performance compared to its original condition.

But why is Green Canopy doing this and thriving if people won’t pay more and don’t really understand home energy efficiency? The answer is that buyers and Real Estate Agents don’t have to understand the in’s and out’s of building science to understand a good deal.

The bare bones “Real Estate 101” reason people are buying a home is: location, location, location, within their pre-approved/determined price range.  The market is not, nor will it ever be, flexible in this regard.

The top four considerations when buying a new home are, and will remain in this order:

1. Location
2. Price
3. Beauty
4. Functional Utility

When we offer a home for sale in any given location we have to consider the functional utility and weigh it against the price range of the homes within the given market and sub-market. At every step in the re-building phase we must attempt to differentiate by adding more utility and making the home beautiful. Our final key differentiator is energy efficiency and green.

Energy efficiency in homes is part utility and part value, but it is not the only feature to determine utility. While most interested in energy efficiency are coming to it from a values-based perspective, imparting values on an inflexible market isn’t generally successful.

Working within the market and adjusting the message and the approach to building is the only viable course of action. This is the challenge put to today’s residential energy efficiency sector; cost-effectively differentiate homes using energy efficiency and green. Once differentiated, the message and the home must resonate with the market.  Fortunately, “energy efficiency” and “green” have become hallmarks for “quality” and “value”.

If the homebuilder or homeowner can cost effectively renovate and build homes that resonate with the market, buyers and real estate agents alike will value the product given price, location, beauty and functional utility of the home under consideration.

Do you have experience engaging the real estate industry to drive retrofits? Tell us about your experience: contact@energysavvy.com

A little over a week ago, we hosted our first annual Customer Summit, bringing together a select group of leaders from utilities and energy efficiency organizations throughout the United States. The two-day Summit was designed around a series of smart discussions on moving the energy efficiency industry towards the future, through software, marketing, program design and evaluation.

“The Summit was a fantastic opportunity to meet other groups who are using similar tools to ours in other markets,” said one attendee. “The networking events were stellar, and the speakers were fantastic as well.”

We were honored to have such an elite group contributing to the Summit discussions. We heard and traded personal stories about energy efficiency program successes and challenges energy efficiency program administrators face everyday. These stories will ultimately guide our efforts to develop software to improve experiences for program participants, contractors and administrators.

We kicked the Summit off with an informal Happy Hour at the Urbane Coffee Bar.

Followed by a day and a half of discussions with guest speakers including Efficiency.org’s Matt Golden, Energy Center of Wisconsin’s Scott Pigg and Vanderbilt University’s Dr. Amanda Carrico.

And of course, we left a bit of room for fun with dinner at the Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union.

Session highlights included:

Scott Pigg: Bringing evaluation in-house and getting involved with the process saves programs money and time and fixes several of the issues that arise from evaluators and program administrators “speaking different languages”.

Amanda Carrico: Energy rebate amounts do matter, but non-price factors in program design and execution matter more. With the same rebate dollar amounts, programs can have an order of magnitude difference in impact depending on program design.

Given that attendees had traveled from all over the country to join us, we wanted to know what they were hoping to learn. We heard a range including wanting to learn best practices from their peers, to hear how other organizations structure their programs and to see how other programs are embracing EnergySavvy’s software products.

“I appreciate the openness with which EnergySavvy approached its customers and the willingness to hear feedback from users,” said another attendee.

Some of the other topics discussed included:

• The range of programs available for consumers from utilities, governmental and other organizations can be confusing, and therefore a barrier for participants and other stakeholders. But coordination is hard…
• Contractors are program customers too; their happiness is crucial for program success. How that works is another question altogether…
• Barriers to scaling up non-lighting programs, and ultimately creating long-term success, include participant recruitment and a lack of consistent program standards. Sharing best practices from around the country is key…

Along with challenges, we also discussed possible solutions from cross-marketing by programs to reduced paperwork for contractors and participants. Ultimately, the solutions we discussed at the Summit and at the office post-summit will be reflected in the software we build.

Thanks again to everyone who joined us. We can’t wait to make it even better next year!

For the next 15 days, anyone who refers a developer or program manager candidate to EnergySavvy that gets hired can get up to $15,000!

Really.

Why? If you’ve been following EnergySavvy, you know we just raised a $3 million investment round to rapidly build out our development team. We’re committed to growing our team and doing it aggressively to take advantage of what we have come to believe is a great market opportunity.

A year and half ago, we had great success in crowdsourcing the referral process, so we’re giving it another shot. But this time, with a bit of a new twist – the deal starts this Thursday (August 30th) – any referrals made that day qualify for the full $15K. Each day after that, the bonus drops by $1000, until Thursday September 13th at 11:59 pm PT when it ends.

So the deal is pretty clear… act fast if you want to max out your bounty. But keep in mind our hiring bar is, and will continue to be, very high.

To make a referral, contact us at joinus@energysavvy.com with an email introduction to the person you’re referring, or have them apply directly and use your name as the referrer:

1. Software Engineer – http://energysavvy.theresumator.com/apply/pqRlLg/Software-Engineer.html
2. Senior Software Engineer – http://energysavvy.theresumator.com/apply/EGcC4p/Senior-Software-Engineer.html
3. Senior Program Manager – http://energysavvy.theresumator.com/apply/lmDWfg/Technical-Program-Manager.html

If you’re not familiar with EnergySavvy, learn more about our company and culture before applying or referring someone.

The fine print:

The bounty amount depends on the date that the referral was originally made, or the date that the referred applicant applies, whichever comes first. It doesn’t matter if you’re an employee or not to collect the hiring bounty. If there’s a question about who the referrer is, we’ll ask the candidate. Candidates that apply without a referrer don’t get to keep the bonus for themselves. The employee has to still be employed after 3 months or we don’t pay out the bonus. Deal ends at 11:59 pm PT on September 13th. If anything else comes up that is questionable, we’ll use our discretion to sort it out.

Good hunting!