Use of Evaluation to Improve Energy Conservation Programs: A Review and Case Study

Focuses on energy conservation and reviews the history of social science contributions in that area, together with a case study of the successful Michigan Residential Conservation Service home energy audit program. The case study illustrates how the Michigan effort emphasized use of evalution results both to cut program costs and to revise and improve program services. The successes of the case study suggest that this type of pragmatic evaluation approach might be beneficially applied to other areas of environmental management as well.