“Save Money by Saving Energy Campaign”

Prepared by GreenLight Solutions: Saritha Ramakrishna, Torin Sadow, Whitney Schedeler, Sarah

Spencer, and Tommy Verderameand by Mick Dalrymple, CCE HOA Treasurer

Photos © Desert Moon Productions, Inc. unless otherwise noted

What was it (in a nutshell)?

An HOA-led energy efficiency and rooftop solar education and bulk purchasing

campaign

Camelback Canyon Estates

Source: Maricopa County Assessor (http://gis.maricopa.gov/)

Camelback Canyon Estates

� 44th & McDonald in Phoenix

� 107 homes; 2,200 – 3,700 sqft.

� Originally built 1974-78, many re-builds

� PAD with mandatory HOA dues

� Home values: $465K-$1.5M*

� Politically mixed, somewhat active

� Masonry homes, pitched and flat roofs� 2 previous solar pv, 2 solar thermal

* Source: ARMLS. Homes sold 10/23/2011-10/23/2014

Why did the CCE HOA Run a Program? � To help CCE residents save energy & money and move to solar by

� Addressing house as a “system”

� Providing education

� Capitalizing on federal, state and utility incentives

� Taking advantage of bulk purchasing

� To promote a stronger community interaction and cohesion

� Volunteer-driven effort to strengthen neighborhood

� More participation = More rewards for every participant

� Mick Dalrymple was recruited onto the HOA Board and felt his best contribution to the neighborhood would come from his passion, experience and ASU research work in this field.

Program Goals and Strategies • Create public awareness and education• Provide strong call to action• Create pilot for replication - something portable,

scalable and flexible• Business model, HOA-led, vendor micro-sites, program

fact sheets, student canvassers, etc.• Utilize lessons from Energize Phoenix

• Change focus to a neighborhood scale• Employ Community Based Social Marketing techniques

Save Money by Saving Energy Campaign

Community-Based Social Marketing � Create Urgency - time-limited special offer

� Reward Teamwork

� Leverage Trusted Sources – HOA and neighbor who did it

� Provide Tangible and Proximate evidence

� Simplicity

� Other principles include Competition and Defaults (Norms)

Review of Program• Participating vendors: Ideal Energy, Sun Valley Solar

Solutions and SolarCity• Initial presentation to HOA members in March;

original deadline for audits and consultations was April 15th, 2014

• Two student canvassing dates (March 8th and April 5th)

• Program timeline changes, vendors supported more flexibility, deadline was pushed to May 15th.

• Work completed throughout June and July• Rebates distributed in August.

Rebate Structure - Efficiency

Aggregate Neighborhood Improvement Expenditures*

Rebate to CCE HOA

Less than $10,000 0

$10,000 - $14,999 8% of total expenditures*

$15,000 - $29,999 10% of total expenditures*

$30,000 or more 12% of total expenditures*

Ideal Energy

* Note: Includes expenditures paid by homeowner and those covered by APS incentives but does not include expenditures on home energy checkups or sales tax.

Rebate Structure - SolarSolarCity

*As an example, if 10 homeowners each install a 5kW system, the CCE will be rebated for 50,000W at $.10/watt = $5,000.

Number of Installations Referral Fee to CCE HOA

1-5 $250 per installation

Each subsequent installation $400 per installation

Number of Installations over

3kW in size

Rebate to CCE HOA*

Less than 3 0

3-5 $.05/watt installed

6-10 $.10/watt installed

11-19 $.15/watt installed

20 or more $.20/watt installed

Sunpower / Sun Valley Solar Solutions

Summary Results• 9 Audits, 5 EE upgrades, 2 solar, 2 non-program solar

• In total, homeowners saved $2,573.90 through program rebates for EE. Does not include utility or tax incentives.

• After 1 year, all participating homeowners will have saved an estimated $8,153.01 on their energy bills.

Results: Solar VendorsSun Valley Solar Solutions: Purchased Systems

Size Description Predicted Savings, 1 Year

Predicted Savings, 25 Years

6.72kw 28/240 watt panels with micro inverters

$1,518.00 $38,609.00

10.24kw 32/320 watt panels with SunPower inverter

$2,699.00 $72,436.00

Results: Solar Vendors• SolarCity – no installations

• Sun Valley Solar Solutions – 2 installations, not enough to meet rebate trigger• Additional installation occurred following the time-limited

window. • At least one more expected• In total, $4217.00 utility savings predicted for Sun Valley Solar

Solutions program participants in the first year following installations.

• Non-Program Vendor – 2 installations

Results: Ideal Energy● 9 households purchased audits, 5 went on to purchase retrofit work.

● Retrofits by Ideal Energy totaled $3,792.75 in estimated annual energy savings.

● Because the HOA met one of Ideal Energy’s stepped rebate participation thresholds, homeowners were due a 10% rebate of the value (not including tax) spent on retrofits.

● With this bulk discount, homeowners saved nearly $2,600.00 participating in the program through Ideal Energy’s services.

● All households were recommended duct work as part of the overall energy retrofit process. This was the most common retrofit measure completed during the program.

Results

The above photos are of installation work as it was completed. Total installation time was a day and a half. Photos by Mike Rigg.

Survey Results and Homeowner Satisfaction• 10 respondents in total, not every respondent answered

every question• Appreciated the initial presentation at the original HOA

meeting • Interest in learning more about DIY, low cost energy savings

tips they could implement on their own.• Most felt informed and well-prepared for the program • Some respondents considered the HOA’s involvement in such

a program an “overreach.”

Program Conclusions

• Beneficial to homeowners who participated

• Incremental, smaller steps were favored

• Provided greater awareness of energy efficiency and solar

• Effective as a trial campaign

• Spill-over effects and unintended consequences

Recommendations • In future program scaling, the following should be

considered in design:• Level of HOA engagement • Renters vs. owners, short term ownership vs.

long term ownership• Presence of solar or energy efficiency retrofits in

the neighborhood• Utility incentives• Vendor recruiting process • General demographics

Resources

APS Rebates:http://www.aps.com/en/residential/savemoneyandenergy/rebates/Pages/house-of-rebates.aspx

Home Energy Efficiency Videos and Tips through the Energize Phoenix Program:Videos: http://energize.asu.edu/energize-az/resources/videos/Tips: http://energize.asu.edu/energize-az/residents/

Energy issues faced in a neighbor’s typical CCE home:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTG2g82jCs4&list=PL2F2FF12A67DE607F (parts 1-4)

Tax incentive information: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency:

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?state=AZ

US Department of Energy Home Solar Installation facts:http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/installing-and-maintaining-home-solar-electric-system

Acknowledgments

Appreciation goes to the Camelback Canyon Estates HOA board for their support, and to APS, Ideal Energy, Sun Valley Solar Solutions and SolarCity for their willingness to try something out of the box.

A special thank you to Kevin Caron, Mary Westheimer, Bill Cross and Mike Rigg for providing their individual experiences with the program as case studies for the report.

Questions???