Making Energy Efficiency Easy with Automated Design Assistance
In today’s day and age, we live in a world of curated ads and recommendations. When you log on to any of your favorite apps, whether it’s a retailer like Amazon or a social media like Instagram or Facebook, you will find a multitude of suggested deals and promotions for various products that- more often than not- suit your interests, needs, and lifestyle.
Now, imagine this same concept but integrated into our RATER tool. What if Ekotrope told you that was possible?
Meet ADA for Utilities. Now, rather than trying to advertise a new kitchen appliance or home gadget, ADA aims to help achieve better utility program participation and increase energy savings for builders. Ekotrope’s Automated Design Assistance (ADA) tool provides HERS raters with energy conservation recommendations that are tailored to i) a specific home design and ii) the local utility program’s goals. The ADA tool automatically assesses the impact (total savings, energy bill savings, added program incentive, etc.) of a set of predetermined energy conservation measures for a given home design.
Ekotrope RATER is the market leader for HERS rating software and our RESNET accredited RATER software is the choice of over 220 HERS rating companies, utilized in over 75% of all energy efficient homes across the country. Notably, Ekotrope solutions automatically assess whether a home meets the utility program requirements, calculate expected incentives, provide configurable forms for collecting additional program data (e.g., meter number), and streamline the program submission process-- all within the application that HERS raters already know and trust. These solutions not only improve the rater’s experience participating in the program, but also increase program participation overall while improving the fidelity of program data.
For a seamless user experience, the upgrade measures with the highest payback are then pushed to raters via unobtrusive “opportunity” notifications while raters model a home. If a rater clicks on the notification, they are directed to a Design Assistance panel where they can review the details of that specific recommendation (e.g., upgrading from R15 to R17 insulation). The Design Assistance panel also includes all other high payback upgrade measures. This allows raters to utilize program recommendations in real time, removing the need to double check program requirements and increasing access to savings opportunities.
In addition to the recommendations in the “modeling view,” participating raters have access to an Upgrade Recommendations report that they can customize and share with their builder clients. The report supports custom recommendations and modifications so that raters aren’t limited to pre-populated recommendations. Better yet, all recommendations can be added, removed, and re-ordered within the report. Our aim with these recommendations is to make them work for our raters in a way that is fully customizable and nearly seamless from the rest of their RATER experience.
On the other end, ADA is configurable and customizable for our utility clients as well. A utility program can specify both the measures to be recommended and the definition of payback. The payback calculation can be based on annual savings, energy bill savings, incentive increases, or any other calculable metric (including a hybrid of any of these). The tool can also be configured to help programs and their HERS rater and builder trade allies to meet specific goals, i.e., Energy Star compliance, beneficial electrification, etc. The formula for prioritizing the upgrade measures can be based on any calculable value as well.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “But how will ADA for utilities impact my utility program’s goals?” In a recent pilot in Massachusetts, a local utility was able to achieve an increase of 37% in average kWh savings per square foot., a 1.2% increase in average rebate per home, and an increase of 4.8% in average fuel savings per square foot.
In summary, our ADA tool takes the guesswork out of better home energy performance. It represents a unique way to leverage Ekotrope’s relationship with HERS raters to influence builders’ design decisions. ADA for utilities helps New Construction programs achieve deeper savings and program participation by surfacing these tailored recommendations within the rating application that HERS raters are already using. In other words, the tool suggests these energy conservation improvements in the course of their normal workflow.
Now, do you want to add ADA to your cart?
If you have additional insights on how ADA could improve your business, we’d love for you to start the conversation in the comments below!
Feel free to reach out to info@ekotrope for more information about our ADA solution for utility programs. We’d be more than happy to chat about your organization’s needs and how ADA might be the solution for you.
