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FirstEnergy PA Energy Efficient New Homes Program Marks First Year

This July marked one year since Performance Systems Development was awarded a three-year contract to implement a residential energy efficiency program for Pennsylvania customers of Met-Ed, Penelec and Penn Power (FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania utilities).  Homes qualifying through the Pennsylvania Energy Efficient New Homes Program are at least 15 percent more efficient than homes built to code, and may include additional energy-saving features that make them an additional 30 percent or more efficient than the standard home. 

As a first step, the PSD team conducted a baseline study of builder practices in FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania utility service areas.  The assessment allowed for the design of an incentive strategy to maximize total savings produced and motivate builder participation. 

During the start-up phase, the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center (PHRC) led a market characterization project.  Principal target markets were identified, including municipalities with the highest levels of building permit activity in the FE territories.  Major builders, builder associations, and organizations for code officials also were tagged for inclusion in the program.  This work, along with a survey of builders and code officials conducted by PSD, was used to inform outreach strategies for the program.

PSD’s Green Energy Compass provides the core of program tracking, reporting and incentive processing systems, giving builders and raters a simple way to manage their activities.  Compass allows raters to upload REM/Rate building models and extracts specific data needed for incentive processing, energy tracking, and quality assurance reporting.

PSD and its partners, the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, AFC First, and motum b2b, conduct program training, outreach, marketing, rebate processing and quality assurance inspections for comprehensive turn-key delivery of this innovative program. 

As of May 31, the Energy Efficient New Homes Program included 40 raters, 62 participating builders, and 390 completed new homes.  The highest-performing home to date is 75 percent more efficient than a code-compliant home in Pennsylvania.

PSD will be broadening its relationship with FirstEnergy’s utilities by launching an energy-efficient new homes program in Ohio in November 2011.

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PSD Welcomes New Member of Leadership Team

We are pleased to welcome Scott von Kleeck, who joins PSD as President and Chief Operating Officer. A seasoned technology executive, Mr. von Kleeck will draw on his depth of experience and expertise to enhance PSD’s technical solution leadership and accelerate our software development capabilities.

Prior to joining PSD, Mr. von Kleeck served Chief Information Officer and Chief of Staff for TCIM Services, a company providing outsourced services for Fortune 100 financial service and telecommunications customers.  At TCIM, he was responsible for overall management of the company’s worldwide IT infrastructure, software development, information security, program implementation, customer reporting, backend operations and quality assurance.

Mr. von Kleeck has also served as CIO of Enerwise Global Technologies, Inc., where he was responsible for the construction and operation of revenue generating products as well as the successful technical operation of the company’s corporate back office and customer service systems, networking infrastructure and Internet-based applications for energy related services.  He also created and managed systems efforts in some of the world’s best companies including The Vanguard Group, Hewlett Packard and Bell Laboratories.  Additionally, Mr. von Kleeck has experience in high growth spin-offs and start-ups where he managed technology initiatives for major Internet-based businesses, the Unix operating system, and several brokerage subsidiaries.

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PSD a HERS Provider in the NY ENERGY STAR Homes Program

Great news!  Performance Systems Development has been accepted by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as a HERS Provider in the New York ENERGY STAR Homes Program. 

To participate in the NYESH Program, HERS Raters must operate under a RESNET accredited New York HERS Provider participating in the NYESH program.  NYSERDA provides incentives and support for Raters participating in the program, including:

• Reimbursement for some training.
• $500 incentive for successful submission of first New York ENERGY STAR Homes Energy Rating System Program (HERS) Rating delivered on behalf of a new participating New York ENERGY STAR Homes Builder.
• $1,250 - $1,500 builder incentive per home/dwelling unit.
• Additional $250 - $750 builder incentive for using BPI certified installers.
• Additional $500 per home/dwelling unit for affordable housing.
• Additional incentives available for model or display homes.

As an accredited Home Energy Rater Provider, Performance Systems Development offers Raters the comprehensive service and support they need to develop a successful home energy ratings business. Our staff includes HERS raters who offer in-house expertise for accurate modeling advice and recommendations. As your provider, we will stay in close communication with you to help you run your business and maintain high-standards for yourself and your clients.  We can guide you through the entire process from Rater Training and achieving Certification to processing your completed ratings in a timely fashion.

If you are interested in our Providership or participating in the New York ENERGY STAR Homes Program, please contact us at 607-277-6240 ext. 277 or email homerater@psdconsulting.com

You can find more information about the NYESH program here.

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PSD Working with NREL to Make EnergyPlus Accessible to More Users

In July, PSD’s Shannon Mackey was invited to the National Renewable Energy Lab’s OpenStudio Bootcamp at the NREL facilities in Golden, CO.  The two-day workshop assembled software developers, researchers, and energy modelers to discuss the development of OpenStudio, a free, cross-platform collection of software tools designed to support whole building energy modeling.

NREL is the only federal laboratory dedicated to the research, development, and commercialization of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.  NREL is developing OpenStudio to give stakeholders – building owners, architects, engineers, developers and researchers – user-friendly access to EnergyPlus, the whole building energy simulation engine developed by the US Department of Energy.  Engineers at PSD and across the country using EnergyPlus recognize that leveraging OpenStudio efforts to create a more intuitive, graphical interface to EnergyPlus will make energy simulation with EnergyPlus accessible to more users.

Mackey, a lead software developer at PSD, has been actively involved as a volunteer contributor to NREL’s OpenStudio project for several years.  He is an authority on the tools and development environment the NREL team is using, having designed similar software for PSD.

“It was an honor to be invited to the Bootcamp,” said Chris Balbach, VP of Research and Development at PSD.  “Shannon’s knowledge and experience has strengthened our working relationship with key developers of the OpenStudio project, and we are pleased to be working with NREL on this endeavor and other projects.”

The OpenStudio endeavor is just one of the several initiatives PSD is currently collaborating with NREL on.  In addition, PSD is licensing NREL’s multi-day curriculum for Commercial Energy Assessment Trainings, and PSD has several multi-year contracts with NREL to support WIPP (Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program) grantees and provide technical assistance for SERC (Sustainable Energy Resources for Consumers) installations.

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TREAT Trainers offer Multifamily Class at State-of-the-Art Training Facility

PSD’s Shirley Jean Bergman and Alex Lovallo taught a 4-day multifamily TREAT modeling class at the New River Center for Energy Research and Training (NRCERT) in Virginia. 

Since its establishment in 1999, NRCERT has hosted training for more than 25,000 home performance professionals from across 30 states and Canada.  The Center recently completed a new, 12,500-square-foot training facility, with innovative spaces and equipment to provide a hands-on, advanced energy efficiency curriculum delivered by experienced and certified trainers such as those at PSD.

During the training, Bergman and Lovallo brought students to a 300+ unit apartment complex, where they taught proper auditing techniques for multifamily buildings, including tenant interviews, wall construction, estimating infiltration, combustion testing, and how to establish a baseline for water improvements.  The group then used the information gained on the audit to build a TREAT model.

“It was a pleasure to work with the staff at NRCERT,” said Shirley Jean Bergman, VP for Professional Services.  “We had class attendees from all over the state.  They were enthusiastic participants, even though we had some long, hot days in the field.  We are looking forward to returning to VA to continue supporting these agencies as they work on several major multifamily weatherization projects.”

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Multifamily Buildings Focus of Conference

Jerone Gagliano, Director of Energy Engineering Services at PSD, presented at the 2011 Multifamily Buildings conference hosted by the Association for Energy Affordability, Inc.  Gagliano’s presentation demonstrated how the strategic use of energy modeling and utility bill benchmarking and tracking can benefit building owners, both by saving money and providing quality assurance for the proposed savings predictions.  Gagliano promoted the continued use of modeling, benchmarking, and tracking to inform owners how their portfolio is performing post retrofit, and if projected savings are being realized.

AEA’s Multifamily Buildings conference gathers leaders and practitioners to discuss policies, strategies and practices to make multifamily buildings energy efficient, durable and safe.

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Home Energy Makeover Contest Highlights Benefits of Whole House Approach

Congratulations to the Tsihlis, Muchesko, and Paolini families, winners of the
Home Energy Makeover Contest sponsored by Metropolitan Edison Company, Pennsylvania Electric Company and Pennsylvania Power Company, FirstEnergy’s (NYSE: FE) utilities.  The winning homes were selected from nearly 400 applicants and 15 finalists.  Finalists received a comprehensive diagnostic energy audit – identical in process to the Whole House Program administered for FirstEnergy by PSD.   Based on the results of these audits, our home energy experts identified the three homes that best represent the potential for energy savings and reducing costs. 

Each of the winners will receive a free home energy makeover package worth approximately $10,000.  The customized packages will be installed by local contractors supervised by our Whole House Program energy experts to ensure that maximum savings is achieved. 

The first of three Home Energy Makeover events took place in Bangor, PA, and features the Tsihlis family.  The Lehigh Valley News covered the event, and you can watch the clip here.

Check out PSD’s Jim Phelps and Alex Mordas on camera, not to mention insulator Chris Schwartz, who was trained by PSD.

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