Presentations
8:15am - 9:15am / Keynote: Sapna Gheewala-Dowla, Associate Vice President of Policy and Research, Alliance to Save Energy
Demand is the new supply: unlocking EE savings with the ultimate “coupon”
Sponsored by Willdan
Location: Bishop A/B
9:15am - 10:15am / Breakout Session 1
***Iowa's Affordable Housing + Energy: Getting the Full Picture
Jacob Serfling, Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition and Tamara Marcus Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition
Location: Skinner A
Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition vision of "Equitable Decarbonization" all people across the region are able to benefit from the clean energy transition in their homes and workplaces, with low-income households being a particular point of emphasis. To that end, Midwest BDC has worked with members of the Clean Energy Districts of Iowa for the past year to help advance the level of energy efficiency and access to clean energy. This session will discuss the importance of energy considerations in providing truly affordable housing, what Midwest BDC and CEDI have learned about the state of affordable housing in Iowa, and how we've engaged with affordable housing programs in Iowa to better address these issues.
***mCHP - The Elegant Solution
James C Green, Axiom Energy Group
Location: Skinner B
A solution is regarded as ‘elegant’ when it is simple and effective in addressing an otherwise complex problem.
Clean energy solutions often are expensive and lack simplicity, efficiency, reliability, and effectiveness.
micro Combined Heat & Power (mCHP) provides a clean energy solution that is reliable, simple and effective while offering substantial financial savings and environmental benefits.
mCHP significantly reduces GHG emissions compared to grid electricity, and because it can can decentralize the distribution of power mCHP makes the grid more resilient
Some mCHP systems can be connected to operate in parallel, allowing for more flexibility where heat loads fluctuate to fall below the threshold necessary to activate larger CHP systems. mCHP thus is agile enough to address a niche energy market that cannot be adequately serviced by larger CHP systems.
Finally, mCHP does not expire into toxic waste, is not impacted by weather or time of day, and significantly limits any impact on wildlife and the environment.
***Reach Don't Preach: Creative Engagement Strategies
Megan Hill, city of Iowa City, Climate Action Division and Daniel Bissell, City of Iowa City, Climate Action Division
Location: Skinner C
It’s happened to the best initiatives: you invest in good program design, line up the funding, and then six months later find yourself wondering why more residents didn’t sign up. Energy efficiency programs only work if people participate. Too often, though, outreach and engagement efforts rely on the kind of fusty, earnest messaging associated with public service announcements. That’s great for preaching to the choir, but not always effective at reaching new audiences or even getting the previously engaged to take new actions.
Before you boost another post or host another webinar, consider creative marketing as a set of powerful tools that can increase enthusiasm and participation for your energy efficiency efforts. In this session we’ll take a look at several engagement strategies, from a door to door "Neighborhood Energy Blitz" to a climate action mascot that increased participation in an insulation grant program 650%. We’ll also share marketing efforts to raise awareness of IRA incentives, and lessons learned about untapped communications channels (time to take a second look at radio!). Leave with a template you can use to draft a marketing plan and plenty of inspiration!
Emerging Workforce Training Opportunities
Dan Nickey, Iowa Waste Reduction Center and Amber Buckingham, Iowa Economic Development Authority
Location: Salon 2 & 3
A discussion of new training and professional development opportunities available as a part of the new federal laws related to energy efficiency. This panel will cover The TREK program, and other training opportunities.
10:15am - 10:45am / Morning Break Exhibitor Map
10:45am - 11:45am / Breakout Session 2
*** Leveraging Funds for Home Retrofits
Gregory Ehrendreich, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) and Miranda Andrade, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA)
Location: Skinner A
Utilities can leverage outside funds to increase the scale of EE projects in their portfolios. Funds can be leveraged from city government, state energy offices, local housing authorities, community action agencies, local nonprofits, corporations and foundations to have the biggest impact and reach the most customers. This presentation will explore the diversity of leveraging approaches in the Midwest and beyond.
As an example, we will review a new program being implemented by our organization. What does a utility do when a walkthrough of a home reveals health & safety issues? The project gets deferred. If the owner resolves the issues, then they can reapply for efficiency funding. But what if the owner cannot afford to fix the serious issues preventing the efficiency retrofit? The energy burden and affordability gap widen between those who can and those who cannot.
A program in several Midwest states aims to close that gap by leveraging external funds. MEEA works through the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) Affordable Housing Program (AHP) to get homeowners access to the funds to do the needed work. Previously deferred customers in low-income census tracts with high-cost H&S needs can apply for the FHLB subsidy to cover non-EE measures including labor & materials. Contractors merge these H&S repairs with utility customer-funded EE upgrades for a whole-home retrofit. With up to 75% of project costs coming from FHLB, utility investment can unlock an additional funds to fix the deferral issues, with no contribution needed from the homeowner. To date, the program is ramping up operations in two states -- Illinois and Kentucky -- and has started or completed 7 homes. Goals are to increase this to 48 homes in Illinois and 186 in Kentucky. Project partners include ComEd, Nicor Gas, People’s Gas, and Providence Bank in Illinois and LG&E-KU and People’s Bank in Kentucky.
*** BOP: Energy Efficiency Needs Building Operators
Julie Weisshaar, Energy Association of Iowa Schools and Tim Hood, Energy Association of Iowa Schools
Location: Skinner B
Efforts to create energy efficiency in a building can fall flat without knowledgeable building operators to take care of equipment and plans. Did you know there is a new Building Operator Pathway (BOP) growing Iowa’s future building operators during the PreK-12 school day? Attend this session to learn how BOP is #ChillerThanAnAC and how you can help it keep it chillin'.
*** Partnering with Real Estate Professionals to Improve Home Performance
Kathryn Eggers, Manager, Training and Workforce, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and Pamela Brookstein, Sustainability Manager, National Association of REALTORS
Location: Skinner C
This session will delve into recent research on information that can help convince homeowners and buyers to invest in high performance features like heat pumps and insulation. We will also discuss the critical information needed by appraisers to assign value to high-performance upgrades. Additionally, we will highlight successful engagement strategies and collaborative efforts between contractors and real estate professionals in the Midwest that can elevate your business and drive market demand for energy-efficient homes.
Entrepreneurship In The Energy Efficiency Industry Panel
Chris Ball, TERENC, Jason Prochaska, Sitler’s LED Supplies, Joe Hurla, ROI Energy, Rob Novak, Home Star Iowa/Home Star Training, Ryan Warren, QstN, Courtney Anderson, Woodman Controls
Location: Salon 2 & 3
A panel of entrepreneurs will take questions from the audience and discuss how they come up with their business plan, how they got funding, and how they make their business work in the energy efficiency industry.
11:45am - 12:45pm / Lunch
Sponsored by Alliant Energy
12:45pm - 1:45pm / Plenary Session
Sponsored by IEDA
Rebates, Grants and Loans: Iowa Energy Office BIL/IRA Updates
Abbie Christophersen, Energy Project Manager, Amber Buckingham, Ryan Young, Project Manager, Jeff Geerts, Energy Team, Stephanie Weisenbach, Program Manager
Location: Bishop A/B
Iowa has made significant progress on an array of energy efficiency related rebates, loans and grants as established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Come meet the team and learn about recent developments with new, current and developing programs such as the Home Energy Efficiency Rebates, Training for Residential Energy Contractors Program, Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Program, Grid Resilience Fund, and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant.
1:45pm - 2:45pm / Breakout Session 3
*** Sparking Innovation: Leveraging the Inflation Reduction Act to Alleviate Iowa’s Energy Burden
Cody Smith, Iowa Environmental Council and Steve Guyer, Iowa Environmental Council
Location: Skinner A
The Iowa Environmental Council (IEC) is the state’s largest environmental coalition and we have been advocating for energy efficiency and a sensible clean energy transition since 2005. In this presentation, we aim to outline communities across the state that face the highest energy burden, or share of income spent on utility bills, to build a foundational understanding of energy justice in Iowa. This will help professionals in the energy industry better understand how their efforts impact vulnerable populations of customers they serve. We will also work to highlight available state and federal programs authorized and funded under the Inflation Reduction Act to alleviate Iowa’s energy burden, which ranks in the 97th percentile nationally in many disadvantaged communities.
IEC is committed to outlining these challenges and identifying available sources of funding to challenge participants to develop innovative solutions and partnerships with stakeholders across the energy industry, including utilities, nonprofits, local governments, and more. This presentation will challenge industry leaders and experts to look at their work through the lens of those experiencing the highest energy burden while also outlining specific opportunities for stakeholders to form partnerships that prioritize reducing the cost of energy to low-income households across Iowa.
*** Advancing Building Energy Efficiency through High Performance Measures
Joel Logan, Willdan and Tarunkumar Jotwani, Willdan
Location: Skinner B
The importance of energy efficiency in the built environment has become well accepted over the past few decades. Significant advances have been made in design practices, codes, and technology that contribute to improved building energy efficiency. Despite these advances, there remains urgency in making additional gains in energy efficiency to advance building decarbonization. This session will review how establishing specific energy goals at the design stage for a project and implementing emerging high-performance measures provide significant additional opportunity for built environment energy efficiency gains and decarbonization. Technologies across the building envelope, mechanical system and end uses will be reviewed, highlighting how intentional design choices can drive these advancements.
*** Beyond the Meter - The future of Virtual Power Plants (VPP)
Wes Whited, DNV
Location: Skinner C
Join Wes Whited, a nationally recognized IoT expert, for a deep dive into Virtual Power Plants (VPPs)! The session will explore how these innovative systems aggregate distributed energy resources (DERs) like rooftop solar and battery storage to create a powerful, flexible grid resource. We will delve into the DERs that contribute capacity to the VPP and how market structures like demand response programs unlock stackable revenue streams. We will estimate the exciting market potential for VPPs in Iowa by leveraging real-world data from energy sales and projecting organic growth through market-based electrification opportunities.
*** Audits or Paperweights
Andrew Wiegand, Michaels Energy and Abigail Schmidt, Michaels Energy
Location: Salon 2 & 3
What makes a good audit and what make a bunch of paper that no one will look at again? The main thing is how well you can relate the information to the customer. The measures help but if it’s something the customer is not interested in digging into the information will fall on deaf ear. Ultimately the most helpful information is something the customer can relate to or use to move the project forward great but if it’s just making a smarter customer that is the most useful thing that come out of an audit.
2:45pm - 3pm / Afternoon Break Exhibitor Map
Afternoon Break sponsored by 
3pm - 4pm / Breakout Session 4
*** Iowa Energy Fund - An Overview
Jason MacDuff, Iowa Energy Fund
Location: Skinner A
The Inflation Reduction Act, which become law in August of 2022, included $27 billion dollars to encourage the funding of renewable energy and building efficiency projects, with an emphasis on low income and disadvantaged communities. While many states had green financing entities poised to leverage these funds, Iowa lacked such an entity to ensure our state did not miss out on the opportunity.
The Iowa Energy Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was created to ensure Iowa’s organizations would have the knowledge, expertise and resources to access these funds to expand affordable housing, promote expanded business opportunities and assist Iowa in the transition to clean-energy technologies.
*** NLC-Local: Breaking Down Barriers to NLCs in Small Buildings
Jason Jeunnette, DesignLights Consortium
Location: Skinner B
There are approximately 5.5 million commercial buildings smaller than 50,000 sq ft in the United States. If all of those buildings installed and programmed Networked Lighting Controls (NLCs), the aggregate energy savings would be more than 30 terawatt hours per year. However, there are significant barriers to adoption of NLCs due to their added cost and complexity. The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) is working with our Members (utility and energy efficiency programs) to design and implement a program that helps overcome some of these barriers. This program is currently in the pilot phase with multiple efficiency program pilot projects. The core of the program is a web-based tool, used as part of the incentive application process, that produces a comprehensive report containing relevant information for an NLC installation for the specific project, such as energy savings calculations, a Sequence of Operations, and an easily quotable Bill Of Materials. This report will be used by the energy efficiency program to evaluate and approve the project, by the Electrical Contractor during installation, and by the Property Owner/Building Manager as a record of what products were installed and how they were programmed. In addition, the report will include leave behind sheets for the Occupants of the building, informing them of the new lighting and controls installation and how the lighting in their space will operate.
The DLC will present the preliminary results from member efficiency program pilot projects to demonstrate how the tool will benefit all of the above users and encourage best practices for the deployment of lighting control strategies with NLCs.
*** Empowered Electrification
Kyle Brighton, Franklin Energy, Shane Clyburn, Field manager, Franklin Energy
Location: Skinner C
Electrification programs are innovative and exciting within our industry, but do our low-income and market-rate customers really understand them? Are they even ready to electrify? And, if so, what will motivate them to make the change?
In 2023, as part of their ongoing residential program innovations, which began years ago when they phased out residential lighting, Puget Sound Energy launched their Home Electrification Pilot. To inform outreach and messaging, and drive continuous improvement in the early days of the pilot, the implementation team took a data-driven approach to understanding their customer base and increasing participation in underserved communities. Through in-field data collection and post-assessment surveys , the team sought to understand electrification readiness and obstacles to participation in their target market to increase conversions.
They learned that, by and large, their customers have the pre-existing conditions most likely to result in successful electrification upgrades. For example, 89% rely on natural gas for water and/or primary space heating, and of those, 40% have water heating equipment older than 10 years, and a whopping 56% have space heating equipment older than 10 years. In addition, 88% of customers have panel amperage of 200 AMPs or greater.
So how do you message a program like this to encourage participation? You focus on the motivations of your customer base. The team's research identified three main motivations to electrify: (1) reduce utility bills, (2) focus on energy conservation, and (3) deliver available rebates and incentives. These motivations were incorporated into the marketing and outreach on the benefits of electrification, which was targeted to those most likely to participate in the program.
As a result of this preliminary research and customer-centric approach, the pilot has thrived--launching quickly and with almost immediate success. Just under a year since launch, the program has completed 6,900 electrification readiness assessments and is on track to complete 10,000 (40% of which will be in named and income-qualified communities) within the first year. Additionally, the pilot has made over 35,000 recommendations that included electrification measures and rebates, and helped drive a 50% increase in customer education on the benefits electrification and heat pump technologies.