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Contractor's Corner
  
Contact Us:
Connie Wilbert
Wyoming Home
Performance Program Manager
(307)742-9924
cwilbert@wyoec.org
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Thank you Wyoming Home Performance
Alliance Underwriters!
3rd Wyoming Utility Efficiency
Exchange
The Wyoming Home
Performance Alliance will present the
3rd Wyoming Utility Efficiency Exchange
on March 9-10, 2010 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The
Wyoming Utility Efficiency Exchange event goal is to facilitate a
networking and professional development conference for staff representatives of
energy and water utilities serving Wyoming and neighboring states who are
responsible for developing and implementing customer programs related to
energy/water efficiency, smart meters, demand response and renewable energy.
This event attracts utilities and trade organizations that provide products and
services to support the utility programs. See the archive and download
presentations
3rd Wyoming Utility Efficiency Exchange
The
Wyoming Contractor Exchange
will immediately follow on March 10-11, 2010 in
Cheyenne.
This event's goal is to facilitate networking and professional development among
owners of firms focused on traditional residential and small commercial
remodeling, home improvement, and service contracting. Panel presentations will
discuss incorporating energy efficiency initiatives into traditional contracting
business practices to leverage federal, state and utility-sponsored incentive
programs such as proposed HomeStar and Cash for Caulkers initiatives.
See the archive and download presentations
Wyoming Contractor Exchange.
See continuing updates on the Energy
Efficiency Community Block Grant Effort:
Home Energy Makeover Contest and Energy
Efficiency Ramp-up - Wyoming
What is the Wyoming Home Performance Alliance?
The Wyoming Home Performance Alliance is a voluntary initiative that allows
Wyoming-based energy utilities and developers, government, education, and
private-sector organizations to publicly demonstrate their commitment to
encouraging Wyoming residents to take control of rising residential utility
costs by using a comprehensive "whole-house" approach to make energy-related
improvements. The Wyoming Home Performance Alliance provides a forum for energy utilities and other
organizations to enhance and expand Wyoming Home Performance program offerings statewide as attention
focuses on the most expensive-ever home heating season starting this fall.
Founding Wyoming Home Performance Alliance Partners include Black Hills Power; Cheyenne
Light, Fuel, & Power; SourceGas; and Rocky Mountain Power.
What is the Program Goal for the Wyoming Home Performance Alliance?
Wyoming Home Performance’s goal is to encourage whole-house retrofit for at
least 500 Wyoming homes annually that result in air-sealing, insulation, and
heating system replacement to provide increased home affordability, improved
home comfort, reduced utility bill delinquency, carbon emissions reduction, and
reduced energy usage.
Wyoming Home Performance offers a comprehensive approach to home improvement
that provides comfort, and both energy and cost savings for Wyoming homeowners.
Consumers in Wyoming are being hit as hard by rising prices as in any other
state. In some rapidly developing communities, rising property taxes are
actually forcing people from their homes. Absence of an energy efficiency code
throughout the state is resulting in rapid construction of inefficient
low‑quality housing. People are buying new homes they simply cannot heat--then
they blame the utilities for their high energy bills. Stabilizing expenses,
reducing energy burden, and freeing up money to pay for necessities like food
and health care is desirable from all government, utility, and individual
standpoints.
Who Would be Alliance Partners?
To support this effort, Wyoming Home Performance seeks to develop a coalition of
allied utilities, government, and private-sector organizations that desire to
promote awareness of the monetary and lifestyle benefits to be obtained by
improving energy efficiency in the single-family residential market. We are
looking for 5-25 companies and organizations to provide financial and in-kind
program support. Partners may include:
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Electric and natural gas utilities, whether
private, municipal or cooperatively owned
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Propane and fuel oil service companies
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Natural resource developers
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City/county government agencies
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Chambers of commerce and other civic
organizations
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Environmental interest groups
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Energy-related product retailers,
distributors, and manufacturers
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Non-profit civic and community-based
organizations
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Organizations supporting affordable housing
Wyoming Home Performance Alliance
Activities.
The following are examples of the activities that Alliance partners have a role in helping to shape.
Building Analyst Professional Training
Wyoming Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® January 25-30, 2010 Center for
Training and Development Casper College
3rd Wyoming Utility Efficiency
Exchange, March 9-10, 2010 in Cheyenne, Wyoming
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Homeowner Workshop and Utility Program Idea Exchange in Cheyenne-Laramie
Area in Sept-Oct 2008. Cheyenne Light, Fuel, & Power has expressed
interest in working with Wyoming Home Performance program staff and neighboring utilities to
jointly present a consumer-oriented event to demonstrate advanced home
performance diagnostic techniques and invite homeowners to sign up for an
educational assessment of their own home. This could be coupled with a
utility staff “idea exchange” type of event such as the one to be presented
in Durango, Colorado in August and described at
www.utilityexchange.org/fourcorners and
www.homenergymakeover.org/fourcorners.
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Web Site. The program website at
www.wyominghomeperformance.com
is the
central focus of all Wyoming Home Performance promotional and information activities. The site
will feature Wyoming Home Performance Alliance partner logos and related programs with
direct links to Wyoming Home Performance Alliance partner
resources, as appropriate. In addition to the internet site for the
general public, a password-protected intranet site has been established for
certified contractors to access proprietary program information and
materials. Such a site could be made available to Alliance partners as
well.
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Homeowner Testimonials with Energy Savings Documentation. Included
in an enhanced Wyoming Home Performance web site redesign may be the publication of case studies
of Wyoming homeowners who are enjoying the benefits of a home performance
improvement. Homes in pre- and post-improvement condition would be
documented as case studies to demonstrate the range of improvement
possibilities.
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Media Relations and Outreach. A continuation of the media outreach
plan will be executed in coordination
with national ENERGY STAR® efforts first started in February 2007. Publicity
campaign activities should result in significant print and broadcast
media recognition in a manner consistent with articles that appeared
recently in Wyoming Business Report, Laramie Boomerang, and
WyoFile.com. There will be an opportunity for Wyoming Home Performance Alliance partner
identification in all media campaign efforts.
See our
News page for more information
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Community Group Outreach. Wyoming Home Performance staff continues to identify and
recruit community leaders to allow program staff to conduct presentations to
their groups. Extensive efforts are made to meet with job training,
economic development, and other public agencies to integrate efforts to
reach out to potential contractors as well as consumers.
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Joint Exhibits. A Wyoming Home Performance exhibit
booth could bring together all consumer and contractor marketing materials
of Alliance partners statewide in a professional-looking display as an
alternative to each organization exhibiting separately at local and regional
home shows and similar community events. Wyoming Home Performance staff could allow Alliance
partners and participating contractors to “share” booth staffing duties to
cross-promote various initiatives without committing dedicated promotional
resources.
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Home Energy Auditing and Improvement Orientation/Training/ Certification
for Alliance Staff and Home Improvement Contractors. As a Building
Performance Institute affiliate, Wyoming Home Performance will expand its efforts with
third‑party trainers to teach the fundamentals of home performance
evaluation and whole-home retrofit planning and execution with a focus on
the house-as-a-system concept, including mechanical equipment, the building
envelope and manufactured housing. At the end of the training program, WEC
administers BPI's written and in-field practical examinations to certify
contractors as a BPI Professional Building Analyst. Alliance partners may
attend any training offered to Wyoming Home Performance contractors or receive customized
training.
See our
Contractors page and
Training page for more information
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Incentive Program Design and Implementation. Wyoming Home Performance will work with
Alliance partners and others to assist in the design, implementation,
evaluation and statewide coordination of consumer and/or contractor-oriented
energy efficiency incentives such as the “Residential
Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Incentive” that offers
Cheyenne
Light, Fuel & Power residential customers a cash rebate incentive of
$150 after
completing a home energy audit and recommended improvements through a
qualified Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® service contractor.
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Home Energy Makeover Contest.
Contests similar to those offered in Colorado and elsewhere (see
www.egia.org/anaheim) create program awareness among consumers in an
innovative manner and immediately engage participating contractors. The
contest winners would be chosen based on those homes with
greatest potential to demonstrate home energy
savings. The
improvements may be donated from
manufacturers and distributors with labor by local contractors/builders.
In addition, comprehensive home performance analyses without
improvements may be awarded as consolation prizes.
Copies of all the home performance analysis reports could be
available to all consumers to review and compare with their own home.
These contests serve to create strong
connections with the local media and community event producers and
emphasize the positive cash flow nature
of the energy retrofits, if financing were used. See
our BlockGrant page for more
information.
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Home Energy Analysis Online for Consumers. Wyoming Home Performance hopes to enter into
a licensing agreement with Apogee Interactive to offer an online energy
audit like the one now available at:
http://blackhillspower.apogee.net/homesuite/. The online tool could
allow homeowners to input their billing data and also access weather data to
compare their lifestyle and home characteristics with standards to learn the
potential cost savings from common home improvements. Availability of the
online tool statewide through
www.wyominghomeperformance.com in close coordination with Alliance
partners could allow for seamless integration with Wyoming Home Performance and Alliance web
sites with consistency in energy savings representations and centralized
tracking of direct referrals to a local Wyoming Home Performance contractor for a Home Performance Assessment and improvement installation proposal.
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Home Energy Analysis Online for Alliance Staff and Home Improvement
Contractors. Wyoming Home Performance plans to provide access to robust software tools such
as PSD Development’s TREAT Software (www.treatsoftware.com)
to help prepare contractor work scope proposals and track pre- and
post-improvement energy savings as well as non-energy benefits.
What
are the Benefits of being a Wyoming Home Performance Alliance Partner?
In return for this special consideration, Alliance partners
may help guide the planning and implementation of program activities. Wyoming Home Performance
will develop a unique Memorandum of Understanding for each Alliance partner
based on the partner proposal.
Click here to
find out more about applying to be a Wyoming Home Performance Alliance Partner
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