[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Tech techs program

[kohls at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Mertz, Kara

Dear Council Members:

In response to Council Member Appelbaum's Hotline on Saturday inquiring about the status of the City's "Two Techs" project, I wanted to let everyone know that the pilot phase of "Two Techs" (now called EnergySmart) began in October. The pilot was not publicized in order to allow City and County staff to work closely with contractors, auditors, Xcel Energy and targeted participants to iron out program details prior to the full community launch scheduled for January 25.

Staff will be providing Council with a WIP in January to report on the results of the pilot phase and details about the full community launch.

To provide a quick snapshot:

*         53 single-family homes have been scheduled in the residential EnergySmart pilot, 40 of them in the city of Boulder.

*         250 multi-family units are scheduled to participate in the  pilot in January. These are all in the City of Boulder.

*         Of these 53 single-family properties that have participated, 27 have received the initial visit, which includes the energy audit, direct installation and energy advisor service.

*         Of the properties that have received the initial visit, 40% are in the process of moving forward with implementation of retrofits.

*         The remaining 60% have expressed interest but are awaiting reports and bids from contractors.

*         Participants have reported a high satisfaction with the energy advisor model.

*         81 businesses have participated in business district "sweeps"

*         200 businesses are scheduled to be complete by January 21

*         Four new financing tools will be available beginning in January for residential and commercial property owners

*         City goals = 9,000 homes and 3,000 business participants over the three-year grant cycle (through June 2013)



Through the pilot, some of the program processes are being adjusted to maximize efficiencies.

The social mobilization strategy is under development and will inform the tactics for reaching various community groups and enlisting program participants.

Staff is working with the residential program administrator (Populus) to develop the SmartRegs compliance path as part of EnergySmart.
There has been a lot interest from landlords in leveraging the program for SmartRegs compliance. These landlords will be scheduled starting in January after the ordinance effective date of January 3, 2011.

In January, staff will be updating council through a WIP on the status of the program. This update will include;

 *   Latest program numbers and results
 *   Details on the SmartRegs compliance path and how landlords can access the services
 *   Any program modifications that have resulted from the commercial and residential pilot phase
 *   Update on the social mobilization strategy including specific tactics to be employed

A full program launch is scheduled for January 25, from 3-5 pm. Location will be at a participating Boulder EnergySmart business. A full announcement will be forthcoming in a week.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions at all!
have a very happy Holidays!
-kara

Kara F Mertz
Manager, Local Environmental Action Division (LEAD)
City of Boulder, Community Planning + Sustainability

office: 303.441.3153
mobile: 303.931.1564
mertzk at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:HarkinsJ at bouldercolorado.gov>
www.bouldercolorado.gov/LEAD<http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/LEAD>

 [cid:image001.png at 01CBA2A4.DA2F2490] <http://www.facebook.com/bouldercolorado.gov>  [cid:image002.png at 01CBA2A4.DA2F2490] <http://twitter.com/bouldercolorado>  [cid:image003.png at 01CBA2A4.DA2F2490] <http://www.youtube.com/bouldercoloradogov>  [cid:image004.png at 01CBA2A4.DA2F2490] <http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6658&Itemid=28>






________________________________
From: Appelbaum, Matt
Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 1:24 PM
To: HOTLINE
Subject: Tech techs program

Colleagues -- Attached is a report on residential energy efficiency programs in the U.S. that I happened to stumble upon.  Nothing terribly unexpected -- except perhaps that Boulder isn't mentioned.  And that really isn't unexpected, given that our innovative two-techs energy-concierge program still hasn't begun, even though we've been talking about it for well over a year and agreed, I believe, to allocate funding and staff almost a year ago. While I understand that a fair amount of start-up work is/was necessary, and that coordinating with the county can be a good (if usually rather time/money/staff-consuming) thing, I'm rather disappointed at the huge delays given the excitement and momentum we had early this year for this program.  Surely at least some sort of pilot program could have begun by now?  I'd appreciate an update on this program, although I'd note that previous updates have offered timelines that have long since passed.
--Matt
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1917 bytes
Desc: image003.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1741 bytes
Desc: image004.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment-0001.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1655 bytes
Desc: image001.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment-0002.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1627 bytes
Desc: image002.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment-0003.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1655 bytes
Desc: image001.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment-0004.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1917 bytes
Desc: image003.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment-0005.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1741 bytes
Desc: image004.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment-0006.png 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1627 bytes
Desc: image002.png
Url : http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20101227/f99d5e84/attachment-0007.png