Energy Trust of Oregon relies on BPI certified professionals to achieve efficiency goals
Background – Energy Trust of Oregon administers the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® residential energy efficiency retrofit incentive program for customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas
Need – A single technical standard for all contractors conducting comprehensive home performance assessments within the program
Solution – Building Performance Institute (BPI) whole-home assessment technical standards and accompanying certified professional credential
Result – A thriving program that achieves deep energy savings while enhancing homeowner comfort, health and safety
When Diane Ferington started the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program in Oregon, she knew from the start that BPI standards would play a significant role.
“If you need to capture some quick savings, install compact fluorescent lightbulbs. But if you want to achieve comprehensive, deep retrofits, you have to invest in an approach that can meet that goal. Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® is that approach for us,” says Diane Ferington, Senior Residential Sector Manager for Energy Trust of Oregon, an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to helping Oregonians benefit from saving energy and tapping renewable resources.
Since 2002, Energy Trust of Oregon has been charged by the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) with investing in cost-effective energy conservation, helping to pay the above-market costs of renewable energy resources, and encouraging energy market transformation in Oregon. Since then, the organization’s programs have helped Oregonians save over $440 million in electricity and natural gas costs. Its activities in the state have created more than 1,800 Oregon jobs, and stimulated $60 million in wages and $9.1 million in new business income.
The decision to include Home Performance with ENERGY STAR – a joint initiative from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – was an easy one because it offers a comprehensive, whole-house approach to improving energy efficiency and comfort at home, while helping to protect the environment.
“We have a multi-tier program running in this market,” says Ferington. “If you want to do the basics you can use our energy analyzer. Or we can have one of our free home energy reviewers come in and look around, give you a checklist and some CFLs…but if you really want to do the best thing and get a blueprint for improving energy efficiency in your home, you do the top-tier home performance program.”
Setting the standard
Under the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program, specialized analysts conduct a comprehensive whole-home assessment that goes beyond a traditional energy audit to examine factors affecting comfort, durability and safety. The result is a scope of work that prioritizes the various measures to be employed to improve the home - from must-do to nice-to-do. At the end of the process a second assessment is performed to ensure the installed corrections are working properly and the safety of the occupants has not been compromised.
This type of comprehensive assessment is not something just anyone can do. It requires knowledge, skill and specialized diagnostic equipment.
That’s why the Building Performance Institute (BPI) has been part of Ferington’s home performance program from the very beginning in 2005.
“Right from the start, we knew BPI was the standard that our home performance program would adhere to. In essence, agreement with ENERGY STAR calls out for ‘BPI or equivalent,’” says Ferington. “We had some existing weatherization standards in use here in Oregon, but they were predominantly electric and we’re a mixed-fuel service. I really wanted something that covered the combustion safety side for natural gas customers. BPI had the standard, and from watching what was happening in New York State and other jurisdictions, I knew the standard works.”
BPI is a national standards development and credentialing organization for residential energy efficiency retrofit work – providing training through a network of training affiliate organizations, individual certifications, company accreditations and quality assurance programs. As an independent, not-for-profit organization, it brings together leading building science experts from across North America to develop technical standards using a consensus-based methodology. The concept is designed to maximize energy efficiency while enhancing comfort, indoor air quality and protection from combustion appliance backdrafting, moisture and mold problems.
Ferington learned about BPI through the home performance symposium at Affordable Comfort Institute (ACI), as well as from EPA staffers working on the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR initiative. Conservation Services Group, awarded the program management contract in Oregon, were also BPI champions from the outset.
“To me, the BPI standard has it all in a package. It really is a way of looking at the house comprehensively as a system” says Ferington. “BPI was the only entity to have that roadmap already figured out and getting leverage as a national, consistent standard. It didn’t make sense to recreate the wheel.”
Ferington took the BPI standard to the Energy Trust Conservation Advisory Council, a governing body that oversees and approves changes to incentives or adjustments to program design, and also presented it to the Regional Technical Forum.
“For us, the hardest part was getting people to understand the value of training. You do need to invest in training up front, and while you’re doing that you’re not saving a single therm or kilowatt hour. But once people see the standard and the importance of training people to meet that standard, getting internal buy-in is relatively easy.”
Today there are three BPI training affiliate organizations serving Oregon, including the Conservation Service Group, Energy Conservation Training Co., and Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham. These organizations provide classroom and hands-on training in the specialist skills needed to conduct comprehensive home assessments and proctor examinations. Successful students are awarded the BPI Building Analyst Certified Professional designation - a requirement for those wishing to work under the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program in the state.
An efficiency success story
“We’re definitely getting more traction in our market. We’re delivering a state-mandated pilot that calls for comprehensive home treatments with on-bill financing. That also calls for BPI or equivalent as its standard,” says Ferington. “We have almost too many people wanting to get trained and get involved. Admittedly, a lot of it is just people wanting to make a dime. That’s what’s scary. They’re not all BPI certified. Only the BPI guys do home performance. Everyone WANTS to do home performance, but only the BPI guys can do that. We’re working on building that part up.”
To support the in-field analysts, seven Home Performance Account Mentors are employed to provide guidance and quality assurance, vetting reports and sometimes even visiting a home to oversee the assessment or provide a second opinion on an unusual situation.
“It’s one of our success points. Otherwise the contractor is out there with his tools and may not have all the confidence he needs. If you’re coming from a traditional business like insulation, it takes confidence to stretch out and do the comprehensive thing. It also gives confidence to the homeowner.”
One of the challenges with comprehensive home performance retrofit programs is helping homeowners understand the value of investing in the energy efficiency of their homes. The assessment process itself is based on building science - concepts that are unfamiliar to a lot of homeowners. That’s why the account mentors also act as energy advocates for a new on-bill financing program that uses a revolving loan fund to help homeowners pay for energy efficiency improvements, a concept that is starting to garner national attention for Energy Trust of Oregon.
And while the organization hasn’t received any direct funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), there are opportunities to collaborate with the State of Oregon and the City of Portland, both of which are eligible for block grant funding under ARRA.
“In terms of the reporting they’ll have to do to comply with ARRA requirements, it’s all about extracting the right data points from the information we can provide through the assessments. Our assessments, combined with the city's ability to use ARRA funds to help homeowners finance the measures, are going to result in more measure installations. We’re at the point of maturity where I have more demand than I have budget to serve it with. Leveraging other funds will help us reach more families.”
From a standing start four years ago, the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program administered by Energy Trust of Oregon has evolved into a true efficiency success story. A contest held in the summer of 2009 that gave away three comprehensive home retrofits garnered over 6,000 entries and raised a lot of awareness in the market. Demand is higher than ever.
Ferington’s advice to those looking to follow in her program’s footsteps?
“You have to have a standard to base everything on. You have to have BPI.”
