At the September meeting of the Conservation Advisory Committee of the Energy Trust of Oregon, ETO staff presented information on their draft strategic plan for programs geared to industrial and agricultural customers as well as information about some program tweaking for their commercial sector New Buildings program. Staff presented very positive outcomes from the Trust’s Production Efficiency efforts. This program, administered by in-house staff, uses program delivery contractors in assigned market areas as well as Allied Technical Assistance Contractors and Industrial Technical Service Providers providing both technical expertise as well a strategic energy management services. The results have been impressive with strong savings numbers which have been increasing year over year. The program innovation of using a strategic energy management/continuous improvement approach has turned a sector historically known for its lack of participation in energy efficiency programs into a significant contributor to overall ETO savings goals. Information on the Energy Trust’s Production Efficiency efforts is available on their website – www.energytrust.org – and should be viewed by anyone interested in the value of using a strategic approach to acquiring energy efficiency savings.
Trust staff also reported on some program tweaks being made to their commercial sector New Buildings Program. With more stringent energy codes in place in Oregon, the ETO needed to adjust their approach to the market to ensure that the program was still relevant and valuable to those building new commercial/institutional buildings in the state. Five key changes were announced.
- Enhance early support of projects
- Improve technical assistance
- Offer higher incentives for all projects and tiered incentives for “deeper savings” modeling projects
- Increase post-construction participation
- Simplify forms