500-34 Partner of the Year Awards

2010 ENERGY STAR® Awards
General Instructions for All Applicants
What you need to submit online:
• A 300-word executive summary highlighting the main elements of your application.
• An electronic copy (Word or WordPerfect) of your narrative.
• Optional supplemental material such as photos, pamphlets, copies of advertisements,
videos, audio files, etc., can be uploaded with your application as PDF files (each file
must be less than 12 MB). It is strongly recommended to consolidate supplemental print
files into one or two PDF files.
• Retailers only: See special instructions in the Retailer application, under the Partner of
the Year category.
When you need to submit it:
• A complete electronic application must be uploaded by midnight, EST on December
4, 2009. We will not accept any applications or materials uploaded after this date.
How you need to submit:
• All Partner applications must be electronically submitted through your “My ENERGY
STAR Account” (www.energystar.gov/mesa). The electronic system will be available
November 1, 2009.
• If you do not have an ENERGY STAR account, call the ENERGY STAR Hotline at
888-782-7937 to have one created.
• We will only accept applications submitted via this online system.
What to expect after you submit:
• Confirmation of Receipt: You will get an email within 48 hours confirming receipt of
materials you submitted electronically. It will be sent to the Primary and Communications
contact in the award application. If you do not receive confirmation within this timeframe,
contact ENERGY STAR Awards Coordinator Hewan Tomlinson at (202) 343-9082 or
[email protected].
• Notification: You will be notified no later than February 5, 2010 on the status of your
application.

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Additional information:
• The ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony will be held on April 13, 2010 in Washington,
DC.
•

Organizations may apply for more than one award if they meet the eligibility
requirements. In such cases, a complete award application package must be submitted
for each award.

•

There are two broad categories of ENERGY STAR Awards that you can apply for:
Partner of the Year and Excellence Awards.

•

The Sustained Excellence Award, our highest honor, is selected by EPA to recognize
organizations that have won Partner of the Year for several years and their
achievements continue to surpass those of the previous year. There is no separate
application for Sustained Excellence.

•

Where applicable, quantify your activities and the results (e.g., percent improvement,
number of marketing pieces produced, number of people reached), and include
electronic copies of documentation that support claims made (e.g., photos of
promotional materials, samples of advertisements with the ENERGY STAR mark, copies
of training materials used, etc.).

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2010 ENERGY STAR® Award Application
Partner of the Year – Energy Efficiency Program Delivery
Eligibility:

This award is open to utilities, state agencies, regional energy efficiency nonprofit
organizations, associations, and other organizations that sponsor sustained energy
efficiency and environmental programs.
Please note that for-profit energy service and product providers are not eligible for this
award category and are redirected to the application titled “Service and Product
Provider,” under the Partner of the Year category.
Unsuccessful applicants for Partner of the Year - Energy Efficiency Program Delivery
that exhibit a strong outreach and education component in the application will be
automatically considered for the Excellence Awards.

Description: This award recognizes organizations that have demonstrated leadership and best
practices in implementing energy efficiency programs and/or program portfolios that
incorporate ENERGY STAR as a key strategy and effectively reduce market barriers to
the improvement of energy performance in buildings and facilities and/or the increased
adoption of energy efficient products, services, and/or practices.
The goal of this award is to recognize comprehensive, high-performing energy efficiency
programs and/or portfolios that have directly leveraged ENERGY STAR to achieve (or to
be positioned to achieve) significant impact in the marketplace for advancing energy
efficiency and related greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.
Applicants may apply in one or more of the following four Program Categories:
1. Residential New Construction: Programs that promote the construction of energyefficient new homes through activities such as: implementing consumer education and
awareness campaigns; training builders, Home Energy Raters, and real estate
professionals in building science principles; and offering incentives to builders or
consumers for the construction of ENERGY STAR qualified homes or use of qualified
products. Applicants must demonstrate how these activities have contributed to
increased consumer awareness of ENERGY STAR, increased number of participating
builders and raters, and increased construction of ENERGY STAR qualified homes in
the area. NOTE: For organizations that have been recognized with ENERGY STAR
Awards in past years, the award evaluation committee will focus primarily on new
strategies and activities initiated in 2009. Applicants are encouraged to respond to the
award criteria accordingly.
2. Home Performance with ENERGY STAR. Apply for either 2(a) or 2(b) as follows:
2(a) Home Performance with ENERGY STAR/Emerging market: Programs
that recently signed a Partnership Agreement in 2008 and reported at least 50
Home Performance with ENERGY STAR jobs in 2009. Program sponsors must
have submitted an implementation plan, a signed Partnership Agreement, and an
end of year activity report that is due December 15.

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2(b) Home Performance with ENERGY STAR/Established market: Programs
that have reported at least a total of 100 Home Performance with ENERGY
STAR jobs, and have demonstrated market and program sustainability. Program
sponsors must have submitted an implementation plan, a signed Partnership
Agreement, and an end of year activity report that is due December 15.
3. Qualifying Products: Programs that are designed to overcome market barriers to
widespread adoption of ENERGY STAR qualified commercial and residential products
and/or related best practices, such as power management of office equipment,
consumer education on proper thermostat use, etc.
4. Commercial and Industrial: Programs that deliver improved whole–building energy
performance in existing commercial buildings; target and track performance for new
construction; and/or achieve facility-wide improvement in industrial plants, by using
ENERGY STAR tools and resources to overcome market barriers.

Narrative:

Criteria:

Your narrative description may be no more than three pages for each Program
Category described above (Residential New Construction; Home Performance with
ENERGY STAR (emerging or established market); Qualifying Products; and Commercial
and Industrial). This limit does not apply to electronic samples of program materials and
evaluation reports that may accompany the narrative description.
•

Executive Summary (300 words or less)—-Please provide a brief overview of
your organization and the highlights of key accomplishments that make you eligible
for this ENERGY STAR award. In the event that you are chosen to receive an award,
this text will be the basis used in preparing a summary of your organization's
achievements. The Executive Summary will not count toward the narrative
description page limits outlined above.

•

Accomplishments—Organizations applying for the Partner of the Year Award
should provide a detailed description of your 2009 accomplishments
demonstrating how you have met the required criteria below.

•

Cumulative Accomplishments—When highlighting cumulative accomplishments,
please ensure that you include a timeframe (e.g., saved $3 million in 2009 and more
than $10 million since 2001).

Activities must be ongoing or completed during calendar year 2009. It is
recommended that each item, as defined below, be addressed explicitly in the
application. New and emerging programs are encouraged to apply and scores will be
weighted accordingly (i.e., more heavily based on program design and anticipated
market effects than proven energy and emission savings.) Candidates must include the
following in their submissions:
a. Category: From the list above, please identify all the target Program Categories for
your program(s)/initiative(s). If you address multiple Program Categories, please ensure
that each category clearly addresses the following criteria.
b. Program design: Describe your program design in terms of goals, market barriers
addressed, strategy for overcoming market barriers, and key activities, including
outreach to program participants and/or consumer education. Applicants with new

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programs/program designs should focus heavily on this section, clearly explaining their
program logic and why it is likely to lead to sustained market change.
c. Incorporation of ENERGY STAR: Briefly describe how you have incorporated the
ENERGY STAR platform – messaging, tools, and strategies – in your initiative. To the
extent that they are part of a larger program strategy, participation in EPA- and DOE-led
national promotions should be included in your description. Please provide relevant
examples in electronic format.
d. Market Effects: Please provide qualitative and numerical data to support your case
that the market has changed or will likely change in a sustained way as a result of your
initiative (e.g., improved energy performance of buildings/portfolios in your region;
increased customer awareness of the financial case for energy performance
investments, changes in ENERGY STAR awareness or availability/sale of ENERGY
STAR qualified products or homes). To the extent possible, also indicate the size and
importance of the market that has been (or will be) affected within the context of your
service territory, state, or region.
Examples of market effects include but are not limited to the following:
• Energy savings, peak demand reductions, and air pollution reductions achieved
through residential, commercial, and/or industrial sector programs that explicitly
leverage ENERGY STAR.
• Increase in salesperson/contractor knowledge; change in business practices.
• Increase in participation by key suppliers, including energy service companies,
equipment suppliers, architects, engineers, contractors, or retailers.
• Increase in service availability.
• Increase in third-party advertising by market participants.
• Increase in consumer awareness; change in consumer attitude.
• Breadth and reach of publicity activities.
• Increase in participation in the ENERGY STAR Partnership.
• Cost effectiveness of program (e.g., $0.05/kWh TRC levelized cost).
• Estimated year-to-date energy savings.
•

For Residential New Construction
o Increase in percentage of new homes in service territory that are built to
ENERGY STAR guidelines; growth in percentage of housing starts qualified
as ENERGY STAR.
o Increase in builder participation.

•

For Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (required)
o Activities to recruit and train contractors.
o Innovative solutions to grow Home Performance with ENERGY STAR.
o The size of the service territory of the Program in terms of absolute number of
single family households.
o Completed jobs by contractors.
o Number of on-site QA inspections by program, contractor, and third-party
inspectors.

•

For Qualifying Products
o Increase in sales or market share of ENERGY STAR qualified products vis a
vis non-qualified models.
o Increase in shelf space devoted to ENERGY STAR qualified products.

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o
o
•

Increase in dealer stocking for qualified products.
Number of older/inefficient units permanently removed from service (e.g.,
properly recycled).

For Commercial and Industrial
o Increase in use of EPA’s Portfolio Manager and Target Finder tools and the
EPA energy performance rating system for building benchmarking, increase
in buildings earning the ENERGY STAR label, and achievement of ENERGY
STAR Leaders for commercial buildings by program participants

e. Data Sources: Please reference data sources used to support your market effect
claims using standard bibliographic format. As relevant, briefly (1-2 sentences) describe
the data collection method, sample frame, and respondent population (e.g., telephone
survey, large-share sample of heating and cooling contractors).

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