Hi all,
We are in the final stages of a CBSM program for residential energy efficiency in Townsville, Australia, and would love to get in touch with program designers and administrators who've conducted similar programs elsewhere. Our research so far has involved a comprehensive behaviours investigation, behaviour selection, barriers and benefits investigation, as well as focus groups and a survey to validate and prioritise the barriers and benefits. We're also finalising a desktop review of economic instruments, policies and incentives which would help households to undertake the selected behaviours. Being a tropical location, the final selection of behaviours for the pilot program include switching hot water systems; planting trees and plants which shade the home; and painting the roof a light or a reflective colour.
As part of the process of designing the the pilot program, we're hoping to be able to discuss the experiences of similar programs around the world to learn about what has worked and what hasn't. To this end, we're also hoping to make all of our research publicly available to assist the development of similar programs elsewhere.
I would be grateful to hear from any who have had experience with a CBSM program for residential energy efficiency, especially where it might have involved the behaviours we are looking at for this program.
Many thanks,
Angie
Angie Reeve
The Natural Edge Project
Australia
CBSM Residential EE Programs
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Hello Angie,
I coordinate the (federal government) Natural Resources Canada Retrofit - Homes program in Ontario.
This program was offered to home owners in Canada who were encouraged to retrofit their homes (upgrading heating systems, cooling systems, hot water tanks, insulation, doors/windows/skylights, toilets and also included a blower door test to determine where the drafts were and where the homeowner was losing most of their heat).
This program has been extremely successful in that the Federal government offered homeowners grants of up to $5,000 CAD for retrofitting. Furthermore, the Province of Ontario agreed to match the Federal grants and the homeowners are now offered an incentive of up to $10,000 CAD.
The process was much like the EnerGuide for Houses program that was discussed in the case studies on this website. The homeowners paid a fee to have a certified energy advisor do an energy audit. Once that was completed, the homeowner was given a written report detailing the recommendations for improvements. The homeowners do the retrofits, have a follow-up audit and the paperwork is shipped off to the feds for processing. The homeowners receive a cheque from NRCan in the post.
Unfortunately, last Wednesday the feds pulled the program (with 1 year left from the deadline). EnerGuide for Houses was a liberal program, then the conservatives came in a changed to to ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes.
Cobi
Cobi Zevenhoven
Program Coordinator
Canada
Hi Angie,
Have you been in contact with the Moreland Energy Foundation in Melbourne? If not, drop me line, and I'll provide you with a contact - [email protected].
Caitlin Scott
Ms
SKM
Australia