I'd rather ignore this blog, but it's probably prescient

Suzanne Shelton, CEO of the Shelton Group wrote a thought provoking opinion piece on the immediate future prospects of the Home Performance field.  She states "In fact, the availability of more generous federal tax incentives has been a primary driver for the increase in energy efficient home improvement activity we’ve seen over the past year."

Since I haven't seen any excess of activity this year, I'm not sure what increase she's talking about though I suspect that the US as a whole has seen a noticeable uptick in Home Performance contracting in 2010.  But the part I dislike - only because it's a somewhat bitter taste - is that the forecast for 2011, which I and many other Home Performance Contractors hope will be substantially busier, is that on third of possible clients is lost this year because of the decrease in tax incentives.  As Shelton says, "Thus at a minimum, approximately one third of the population who made their home more energy efficient would likely not have acted or would not have purchased the more efficient unit if it weren't for the incentives offered."

Granted, California utilities have stepped up their rebate plans, rolling many of the individual existing rebates for insulation, high efficiency furnaces, etc. into the new Energy Upgrade California (EUC).  The requirements for a Contractor to get in to the EUC are set high enough to keep out the casual and untrained, but the program itself is fairly robust and is funded by everyone's utility bills so it's not going away for the next few years.  I've heard that cash rebates are available to qualified homeowners using qualified Home Performance Contractors up to $4000, though I haven't been able to get more than $3500 for a client so far.  And as it should be, the rebate amount is dependent on the tested and modeled percentage increase in energy efficiency of the home, so it's both science based and verified afterwards by both 3rd party Verifiers and by following the homeowner's utility bills for the next year or two.  That's a lot of what I like about the EUC: the building science, or home-as-a-system approach, helps us understand why certain efficiency measures are more important than others, the the verification system helps homeowners trust us as contractors.

The Shelton Group's Blog:     http://www.sheltongroupinc.com/blog/?p=2106

Energy Upgrade California:     http://energyupgradecalifornia.org/

PGandE Releases Energy Efficiency Estimates

Sonoma County reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 161 million pounds in three years

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PGandE) announced last month new estimates that demonstrate the significant impact energy efficiency investments made by Sonoma County customers have had on reducing harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. From 2006-09, PGandE customers in Sonoma County saved 248,000,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity through energy efficiency and helped avoid 161,000,000 pounds of GHG emissions - equal to the emissions from burning about 8,185,000 gallons of gasoline.

Many Sonoma County-based businesses achieved significant savings through energy efficient upgrades and retrofitting projects. PGandE supports these measures with customized energy efficiency incentive programs that are available to all local governments, businesses and residential customers.

“We congratulate Sonoma County for its focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and its great results,” said Randy De Caminada, manager of Energy Solutions and Service for PGandE. “PGandE is here to help all of our customers with energy-saving solutions.”

Climate Protection Results 2006-2009

Area	GHG Emissions Avoided (lbs. CO2)	Equivalent homes powered for one year	Equivalent Gallons of gasoline
Sonoma County	161,000,000	42,630	8,185,000
Santa Rosa	72,920,000	19,294,000	3,705,000
Rohnert Park	28,058,000	7,345,000	1,425,000
Petaluma	22,186,000	5,870	1,127,000
Cotati	3,070,000	812	156,000
Cloverdale	3,238,000	856	164,500
Sebastopol	6,198,000	1,640	315,000
Sonoma	7,798,000	2,063	396,000
Windsor	6,538,000	1,730	332,150

For more information, contact Kera Smith at (707) 577-1082 or visit www.pge.com.