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Commercial Buildings
Innovologie
staff have completed more than a dozen projects in the past seven years
examining the new construction and remodeling and renovation markets; the
effectiveness of commercial building energy efficiency programs; the role of
owners, managers, and building professionals in deciding on the use of energy
efficient technologies; and patterns of ownership and control that affect the
rapidity with which efficient technologies enter the market. Innovologie
has completed a study, ÒWho Plays and Who Decides,Ó
for the U.S. Department of Energy that describes the organizational and
structural characteristics of the U.S. commercial buildings market. Industrial Program Evaluation
Innovologie
has been or is involved in a number of evaluations of industrial energy
efficiency programs. While serving as the Evaluation Director for the
Wisconsin Demand-Side Demonstrations, Dr. John Reed, Principal of Innovologie, oversaw the design and
implementation of the evaluation of an industrial process improvement
program. More recently Mr. Reed
served on a peer review panel that provided input to the US Department of
EnergyÕs Industrial Technology Delivery Program. The panel provided recommendations for improving both the
design and reporting for DOEÕs evaluation process. Innovologie
has
completed a logic model for the US Department of EnergyÕs Industrial
Technologies Best Practices Program.
The Innovologie Team is also designing a long-term evaluation plan for
the ITP program. Innovologie is
teamed with another firm to complete process and impact evaluations of
industrial energy efficiency programs for Pacificorp and BC Hydro. Market Transformation
John Reed, Owner and Principal of Innovologie, has been a leader in
conducting market transformation studies of energy markets. In the mid-1990s, he introduced the
intellectual tradition of the Òdiffusion of innovationÓ to the market
transformation discussion.
Diffusion of innovation has a much broader and deeper intellectual
base than that of market transformation and has been widely used outside of
the energy efficiency industry for nearly 80 years. The diffusion of innovation framework includes a model of
the technology/practice adoption process, a model for analyzing adopter
characteristics, models of communications processes, a framework for
analyzing market characteristics, and a focus on product characteristics. Customer Satisfaction
Organizations often attempt to measure
customer or employee satisfaction with a few questions on a survey that are
sometimes repeated at intervals in order to track ÒtrendsÓ in
satisfaction. This approach does
not identify what is driving the trends, and it almost always falls
significantly short of meeting the needs of the organizations, clients, and
employees. Innovologie has developed a much more
robust model for measuring customer satisfaction that has been widely praised
in the evaluation community. The
model is based on the relationships among the customer/client, the organization,
and the service or product. It
results in the identification of a balanced set of measures of satisfaction
selected from across the spectrum of relationships that can then be analyzed
to identify the drivers of satisfaction. This approach produces actionable recommendations that can
be used to drive improved organizational performance. Network Analysis
Social networks and word-of-mouth are the
keys to penetrating markets with new products and ideas. Innovators and early adopters get
their information from broadcast sources but the early majority and later
adopters make their decisions based on what their colleagues and peers are
doing. Innovologie is a pioneer in introducing network analysis to
the field of energy efficiency.
Using commercial building construction data for New Jersey from F. W.
Dodge, Innovologie has begun
analyzing who plays with whom.
No one has previously analyzed energy markets in this way. Impact Analysis
Through the years, Innovologie personnel have completed residential billing
analyses, metering studies, and time-of-use pricing studies. They have used metering studies to
assess demand reductions for air conditioners, heat pumps, and electric water
heaters in residences and the effects of those reductions on customer
comfort. Innovologie has also completed a number
of billing and non-energy benefit analyses of low-income weatherization and
audit programs. Multifamily Housing
Studies
Innovologie personnel have completed a
number of studies of multifamily housing. Two of these studies were aimed at describing the
organization, decision-making structures, and characteristics of the multifamily
housing market. Innovologie has identified four market
segments – small, mid-sized, large operators, and large operator fee
managed – that have very different characteristics and approaches to
decision-making. These
differences have significant implications for the effectiveness of energy
efficiency programs. Other
studies have assessed the effectiveness of different approaches to
multifamily program implementation. Market Segmentation
Market segmentation
is an important key to effectively implementing energy efficiency
programs. A market segment is a
group of people or firms who share a common set of attitudinal and/or
behavioral characteristics. Innovologie
personnel have completed market segmentation studies for a variety of energy
efficiency programs. These
include market segmentation analysis for green pricing programs, load control
programs, time-of-use programs, commercial building programs and multifamily
programs. Day lighting and Occupancy Controls
Day lighting is the
intentional integration of elements of building design and artificial and
natural lighting to provide visual comfort, aesthetics, and reduced energy
usage. Innovologie has studied both the market for day lighting
and the effects of implementing day-lighting systems in buildings. In a California study, Innovologie personnel examined the
degree to which building professionals in California were integrating day
lighting and sky lighting into their projects and their decision-making. They also studied the impact of a
retrofit continuous lighting control system on energy usage in an office
building in Wisconsin. Among the
key findings were the importance of commissioning the system and careful
positioning of sensors so that they will work properly. This study provides a good primer on
how day-lighting systems work and what to do and not to do when installing
them. Innovologie personnel have also completed metering studies
of building retrofits to understand the energy savings from dimming controls
and occupancy sensors. Program Theory, Logic Models, and Performance
Measurement
Program theory and
logic models can be used to identify gaps in programs, to develop measures
for assessing progress, to develop evaluation plans, to identify critical
issues that need attention, and to communicate with stakeholders about the
program and program outcomes.
Logic models and program theory have been widely in used in education
and social service circles for a number of years but have just recently
started to make in-roads into the energy services and energy efficiency
arena. Innovologie is a leader in introducing logic models and
program theory to the energy efficiency field. Innovologie has conducted workshops to
train people in the use of logic models and program theory; helped to develop
tools for use by personnel at the U.S. Department of Energy for producing
logic models and program theories; helped personnel at DOEÕs Office of
Environmental Management develop logic models for their programs; helped to
develop logic models for DOEÕs Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy; and helped the Maryland Energy Administration develop a model to
describe its overall activities and models for ten of its programs. Low-income evaluations
Innovologie personnel have has
conducted numerous process, impact and payment behavior evaluations of
low-income programs. The impact
evaluations have typically found savings for weatherization programs ranging
from eight to about 25 percent. Innovologie
has done several studies of payment behaviors. In a current study, Innovologie is using four measures to
examine payment behaviors: elapsed time to payment, continuity of payment,
average payment, and percentage of payment. The study is a pre-post comparison group design with four
groups including new participants, non-participants, continuing participants,
and a sample of all customers.
This study has a number of unique aspects that are likely to make it a
marquee study of a low-income population. Demand Response
Innovologie personnel have completed a
number of process, market, and impact studies of residential load control
programs from 1985 to the present.
These studies have shown that marketing is more important than
incentives in recruiting customers to load management programs. Some segments of the residential
population respond particularly well to appeals promoting participation for
the good of the community.
At least one study has shown that a quarter to a third of the eligible
population can be recruited without incentives. These studies have
also shown that most load management programs have tended to under-control
appliances. One study found that
using a 50 percent on and 50 percent off strategy on a 95¡F day caused indoor
temperatures to change less than 3¡.
Water heating can be controlled for between three and four hours
without members of households experiencing serious discomfort. Studies have found that demand can be
reduced between 0.75 and 1.25 kW per unit although with newer more efficient
air conditioners the demand reductions may be lower. In a time of day pricing study,
members of the Innovologie team
found high levels of voluntary participation and significant levels of load
reduction. Innovologie personnel have experience
with different approaches to analyzing load impacts. These include end-use monitoring of
load and temperature, observing changes using feeder level monitoring, and
using high-speed monitoring that observes power and reactive power at up to
5,000 samples per second. Community Studies
Innovologie personnel have managed or
completed approximately 10 evaluations of communities based programs. These studies have examined the
effectiveness of leveraging community organizations to promote energy
efficiency. These studies have
suggested that effective community based programs leverage the activities of
existing entities rather than creating new organizations to design and
promote energy efficiency. Among
other things Innovologie personnel
managed a project that developed an index of community involvement. This index was used in several
studies most of which showed that persons with higher levels of community
involvement were more likely to participate in energy efficiency programs. |
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