Program Design

CASE STUDIES 3 of 8

Serious Savings in Syracuse

New York Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Program

Client: New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA)
Location: State of New York

Challenge/Business Need

In today’s economy, homeowners are looking to save money wherever possible, often on their energy bills. The New York Home Performance with ENERGY STAR offers a “whole house” approach to common household problems such as drafts, high utility bills, rooms that are too hot or cold, poor indoor air quality or moisture and mold problems.

The New York Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program is designed to reduce energy consumption for homes of any style, size or age and lower costs up to 40 percent.

Some specific challenges faced in the Central New York/Syracuse area are:

• older housing stock (50+ years)
  
• harsh climate with cold, lake effect snowy winters
  
• regional economic downturn (as seen in the national economy)
  

CSG’s ROLE

CSG was selected to implement the New York Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program throughout New York State. CSG provides on-site technical support and program education to each contractor.

The Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program has created a network of unique home improvement contractors. These contractors are specially trained and accredited by the Building Performance Institute, which sets the national standard in building science.

CSG helps provide homeowners the peace of mind by delivering the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program and a third-party evaluation system that guarantees homes will meet the highest energy efficiency standards. All homes are tested before and after job completion and randomly inspected by a neutral third party.

Strategy & goals

CSG also provides co-op advertising support and marketing services, including an extensive advertising campaign to educate consumers about the benefits of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program.

Contractors participating in the program achieve the highest level of energy efficiency for the homeowner utilizing proven building science technologies which include:

• “Whole house approach”
  
• Proper insulation
  
• State-of-the-art equipment
  
• Sealed ducts and Air Sealing
  
• Ventilation
  
• Combustion safety
  
• Replace outdated appliances, heating and A/C equipment with ENERGY STAR®
  
• Advanced windows

In addition to these energy saving factors this program helps to protect our environment for future generations. In New York State, our goal is to use 15 percent less energy by 2015 and this viewed as an important program to help achieve this goal.

Impact

As a result of this program, over 27,000 homes in New York State are saving an average $757 per year on energy bills. Central New York/Syracuse area accounts for 36 percent of all home performance jobs done in the state, with an average cost of $7,783.58. Onondaga County in Central, NY is the number one county in New York State investing over $55 million in Home Performance: $20 million assisted and $35 million market driven.

Contractors receive the benefits of joint marketing, advertising and branding with the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR and BPI logos. The program offers incentives of up to $150,000 through the co-op advertising program.

The Home Performance program offers consumers low-interest loans or cash back incentives to help pay for home improvements made through this program. Plus, additional assistance may be available if a homeowner meets certain income eligibility requirements.

Central NY Information	New York State Information
Total number of HP jobs since 2001: 9,782 Total job costs since 2001: $76,138,983 Total kilowatts saved since 2001: 7,344,115 Total MMBTU saved since 2001: 380,669 Average cost of project: $7,783.58 Average kilowatt savings: 751 Average MMBTU savings: 39 Percent of jobs done in HP: 36%	Total number of HP jobs since 2001: 27,357 Total job costs since 2001: $210,492,244 Total kilowatts saved since 2001: 20,299,822 Total MMBTU saved since 2001: 1,044,915 Average cost of project: $7,694.27 Average kilowatt savings: 742 Average MMBTU savings: 38

CSG Contacts

Dave Beaulieu, Program Director