Standing in a Home Depot in Alexandria, Va. on December 15th, President Obama announced that weatherization is “sexy.” Despite efforts to erase unsavory mental images, American curiosity was piqued about energy efficiency.  People are seeking info on rebates and tax credits for improvements to save money and cut greenhouse gas emissions, while exploring additional support on the state level.    

A big green bubble of money is headed right for us.  Care should be taken to ensure it doesn’t pop and leave us with an expensive mess.

Massachusetts has been a national leader in energy efficiency policy since 1997 when state law required electric companies to offer efficiency programs to ratepayers.  On July 2, 2008, Governor Patrick signed the Green Communities Act, which required electric and natural gas companies to file energy efficiency plans every three years.  The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) ensures that energy efficiency programs “are delivered in a cost-effective manner capturing all available efficiency opportunities, minimizing administrative costs to the fullest extent practicable, and utilizing competitive procurement processes to the fullest extent practicable.”

In March of 2009 The Zero Net Energy Buildings Task Force, also established under the Green Communities Act, outlined a strategy for growing the energy efficiency sector in “Getting to Zero.”  This report guides universal adoption of zero net energy buildings for new residential and commercial construction by 2030.  It also outlines goals and hurdles for retrofitting existing buildings for increased energy efficiency.

“Getting to Zero” identifies 5 barriers to growing the retrofit industry, which are echoed in the more recent federal report from the Vice President’s Middle Class Task Force October 2009 “Recovery through Retrofit;” a simpler, less ambitious, version of our state-level publication.

#1 The high upfront cost of effective energy efficiency improvements to the homeowner.

#2 The lack of a consistently and well-trained energy efficiency workforce.

#3 A lack of building performance information to provide reliable projections for financing and marketing energy efficiency improvements.

#4 Building operator and occupant behavior can undermine building improvements.

#5 Regulatory and permitting barriers can stall and prevent retrofitting projects.