This collection is approved with the following terms of clearance: this is approved as an emergency clearance to meet American Reinvestment Recovery Act requirements. DOE has agreed to coordinate programmatic and evaluation collections across its WAP Evaluation, OWIP, and Recovery Act offices in an effort to minimize cumulative burden on respondents who might bear the burden of multiple DOE information collections. For example, such coordination may result in a plan by which DOE administers survey instruments and programmatic reporting requirements in a staggered fashion. This collection will be valid for six months. If DOE decides to continue use of the collection past the approved emergency request clearance time period, it must resubmit to OMB under the normal PRA clearance process for a three-year approval. Upon resubmission, DOE has offered to provide further detail on survey methods, experiments, and literature support. For collections involving incentives, if available, this further detail will include examples of similar types of studies.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
10/31/2010
6 Months From Approved
1,950
0
0
69,136
0
0
0
0
0
This collection of information is necessary for a comprehensive and rigorous evaluation of the Department of EnergyÂs Weatherization Assistance Program, which funds the weatherization of approximately 100,000 homes each year. The evaluation will examine program operations, energy savings, non-energy impacts, and customer satisfaction. Respondents include states, local weatherization agencies, utilities, and occupants of low-income homes.
As a pre-amble to this supporting statement, the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are requesting emergency review of this supporting statement and attached data collection instruments and surveys related to evaluating the U.S. Department of EnergyÂs Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). The purpose of this Program is to weatherize low-income homes throughout the United States. In normal program years, WAP receives approximately $250 million in annual appropriations and supports the weatherization of approximately 100,000 homes. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) contains $5 billion dollars for this program. The expectation is that with this enhanced funding the Program will weatherize one million homes per ARRA year and spur job creation.
The second issue is that delays in initiating the data collections described in this document threaten the ability to create the national energy savings baseline and the conduct of the special studies. With respect to the first point, the evaluation plan calls for ORNL and its independent subcontractor to collect billing histories from utility companies for WAP program years 2007 and 2008. Substantial delays in data collection will threaten the ability to collect 2007 data from the utilities because the utilities routinely discard the data after a couple of years. Losing access to 2007 data from the utilities will severely impair the ability to create the national energy savings baseline needed to assess WAP ARRA years performance. With respect to the second point, the evaluation plan contains special studies to estimate energy savings in weatherized homes that heat with fuel oil and propane, and weatherized mobile and multi-family homes. Data for these special studies will be related to WAP ARRA program year 2009 weatherization activity. Procedures to collect the required data for these special studies need to be in place well before the winter of 2009/2010 so that appropriate pre- and post weatherization data can be collected.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
WAP_data_collection_sequence_and_timeline_-_24nov09b.xls
WAP communications plan - draft for review 19nov09.doc
Survey_and_Data_Form_Timeline_Emergency_ICR_-_23nov09[1].ppt
Flow Chart 20nov09.pdf
Weatherization Assistance Program Evaluation