Cooking Up a New Approach for Program Design II: A Recipe for Success

Kim Erickson and Afroz Khan, Consortium for Energy Efficiency
Marilyn Dare, New York State Research and Development Authority
Andy Doeschot, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Al Dietemann, Seattle Public Utilities
Ella Abadir, Southern California Gas Company
Kate Lewis, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Mindy Guilfoyle, Wisconsin Focus on Energy

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Abstract

Foodservice facilities consume over 2.5 times more energy per square foot than typical commercial buildings-427 trillion British Thermal Units (Btus) of electricity and natural gas per year-yet are considered hard to reach markets for energy efficiency (EIA 2003). Due to the large potential for energy conservation at these facilities, efficiency programs across the nation have come together to better understand the complex decision-making structures that impact product availability and procurement in this sector. By incorporating industry perspectives as well as consumer thinking into program strategies and design, market focused programs will have greater, longer-term impacts in the market.

This paper follows up "Cooking Up a New Approach for Commercial Program Design" presented at the 2006 American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy Summer Study by providing an update of results and lessons learned from a new program approach that simultaneously addresses multiple efficiency opportunities within the foodservice sector with a "bundled" offering, while at the same time using key aspects of the market to deliver this package (Andrews, et al. 2006). In this paper, the authors-who include water agencies and energy efficiency program managers-present the results of this approach, lessons learned, and provide recommendations for application of this program approach to other sectors and markets.