Library
Alexa! Show me my Smart Home.
As our homes get smarter, utilities can offer ways to meet customer expectations and provide seamless participation in DR programs. Here are some technologies offering new load management opportunities.
From Widgets to Ecosystems
We have seen a shift in innovation away from smart device hardware and toward a more connected infrastructure. With so many companies pivoting into this space, what will an energy ecosystem enable?
From Grid to Human Resilience: Lessons from Public Health
The 2018 California wildfires underscored disproportionate environmental and health burdens in disadvantaged communities. We explore the energy-health nexus by asking, ‘what actions are required to ready our most vulnerable communities for climate change?’
Electric Cars: An Offbeat History
Electric vehicles made their debut during the era of the horse and buggy! In honor of more than a century of EVs, we dug into automobile archives in search of forgotten history.
Climate Change is Here. Is Your City Ready?
Are you going to be underwater or sweating it out? We break down data from the ND-GAIN Urban Adaptation Assessment to map how five U.S. cities are preparing for climate change.
Let’s Take Off Our Rose-Colored Glasses
We kickoff our 2020 magazine, Ingenuity and Resilience, by framing two truths that we must contend with to design the policies, programs, and interventions necessary to ready our communities for climate change.
Reach Anxiety
Everyone is talking about EVs, but ownership is limited to a few. In this article, we talk about EV affordability as cities and states pursue aggressive climate mandates.
Val Jensen Sees the Future, It’s Connected Communities
ILLUME Co-Founder Anne Dougherty sits down with Val Jensen to talk about his role as Vice President of Strategy & Policy at Exelon Utilities, the utility of the future, equity, and connected communities.
CenterPoint Doubles Down on Data to Deliver Smarter Programs
CenterPoint has long been interested in an energy efficiency dashboard. How does a utility, operating across multiple verticals, create an intelligence platform for decision making?
Get Smart! Applying Smart Thermostat Lessons to DERs
What go-to-market models are needed to drive adoption of DERs and maximize their grid benefits? Here’s how smart thermostats are providing important learnings for scaling DER adoption and increasing program participation.
Case Study: Are EV-Supporting Programs Revving the Market?
ILLUME led research to evaluate and understand the market impact of National Grid’s EV charging incentive program in 2020. READ THE CASE STUDY
Shannon Kahl
SOMAH Phase 1 Evaluation Final Report
In this evaluation of the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) Program for San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) ILLUME took part in the evaluation of early feedback on the program’s goals, design,…
Massachusetts EV Charging Station Program Evaluation Report: Program Year 1
In partnership with ERS and Dunsky, we share year 1 findings of National Grid’s EV Charging Station Program in MA. ILLUME led the process evaluation and longitudinal market study of changes in EV…
Shannon Kahl
Ingenuity and Resilience
We are proud to share the second volume of ILLUME’s annual publication, Ingenuity and Resilience, as we take on the most pressing topic of our time: climate change.
Energy Efficiency Deserts
Lisa Obear presents findings from her research with Liz Kelley and Amanda Maass exploring energy efficiency deserts in Metro Atlanta.
Lisa LeBeau Obear Liz Kelley Amanda Maass
Are you Blockbuster in the Age of Netflix?
In this article, we take a closer look at how utilities can best position themselves to define their value to stay on course with customers.
Opportunity in Disruption
In ILLUME’s debut issue, we take on everything from defining the customer journey, to how utilities are finding new revenue streams, to our featured story on our work with Georgia Power.
From Community Engagement to Ownership
Climate change and social and environmental injustice is inspiring all of us to become better energy citizens. But is our industry ready to take on the difficult work of centering communities?
Victor Mercado
Innovation Breakdown
Small and medium businesses present an untapped opportunity for energy savings. Read how ILLUME employed a Statewide Commercial Behavioral Segmentation and Potential Study to uncover millions of therms of energy savings in Minnesota.
So, you want to be the Amazon of Energy?
Utility driven marketplaces show promise for expanding revenue streams. But how can utilities meet the high—and growing—customer expectations for fulfillment, communications, and service that are the hallmark of the Amazon model?
Georgia Power is Leading by Their Customers’ Example
When it comes to energy efficiency, context is everything. Learn how ILLUME used in-home and in-business ethnographic research to help Georgia Power explore how social and local culture impacts residents’ perceptions of light,…
Case Study: Hidden in the Basement – Customer Learnings from a DR Study
In a crowded market of new and more efficient appliances, can heat pump water heaters deliver deeper savings and expanded opportunities to leverage DR to support the grid during peak usage? READ THE…
Eileen Hannigan
Hunker Down a Tweet Storm is Coming
Social media is giving voice to a new generation of customers who are using its tools to show where they do and do not align with utility values and behaviors.
The Energy Equity Playbook
How do we define equity and understand the challenge in front of us? In this special issue, we shed light on equity considerations as we examine how our industry can ensure that historically…
Change is Hard
What is the upside to replacing your trusted dial thermostat when the alternative is a complicated piece of digital equipment that even most of us in the industry have a hard time programming?…
Case Study: New Metrics – What Assessing Energy Burden and Bill Impacts Can and Can’t Tell Us
Reorienting toward equity, utilities are seeking ways to remedy disparities through income eligible (IE) offerings. Learn how we helped a Midwest utility client determine the level of energy savings necessary to reduce an income-eligible…
Jes Rivas
Home Energy Report (HER) Savings Literature Review
Our team conducted a thorough review of research addressing the research question: What happens to energy savings when HER recipients no longer receive reports or if they receive reports at a reduced cadence?
Eileen Hannigan Amanda Dwelley
Case Study: Understanding our Underserved Majority
What happens when we reject monolithic thinking, and listen to customers’ lived experiences to find out what matters most to them? Read more in our case study of nonparticipation in Massachusetts. READ THE…
Laura Schauer
Case Study: Integrated Market Research Unlocks the New Tech Win-Win
How can utilities capitalize on their natural edge as a known and trusted energy provider? Learn how ILLUME used an integrated research approach to uncover new revenue streams in an increasingly competitive environment.…
Right Answers to the Wrong Questions?
Sometimes approaching research with the standards of evaluation can be costly and deliver fewer valuable insights when other research methods might be better suited for nascent offerings.
What’s the Deal with BE?
The West Coast gets a lot of attention when it comes to beneficial electrification, but other parts of the country are making important strides to move away from carbon-generated electricity.
The State of Storage: Q&A with EnerDel
As U.S. automobile manufacturers prepare for an all-electric future, we can’t help but ask the question: are domestic battery companies positioned to meet our needs?
Redrawing our Mental Maps of Income-Eligible Customers
Addressing inequality requires that we test our own assumptions. Our data-viz team uncovers patterns and clusters of information using GIS tools to inform program participation and reduce adoption barriers.
Isolated but Innovative: Learning from Islands
Learn how Puerto Rico and other islands have deployed technologies like microgrids and solar and storage to meet their renewable energy goals while creating resiliency in the face of climate catastrophes.
Existing Homes Process Evaluation
Energy Trust of Oregon contracted with ILLUME Advising, LLC to provide a process evaluation of their Existing Homes program. Anne Dougherty shares ILLUME’s findings in this final report.
Anne Dougherty
Natural Gas Water Heating and HVAC Installer Research Report
In their NEEA report, Alex Dunn, Liz Kelley, Shannon Kahl, Amanda Maass, and Andrew Mielcarek share their observations about the supply chain from research with Pacific Northwest HVAC and water-heating equipment contractors.
Alexandra Dunn Liz Kelley Shannon Kahl Amanda Maass Andrew Mielcarek
Customer Insights Meet Business Constraints: Going to Market in a Regulated Environment
At the EPIC conference in 2018, Liz Kelley and Amanda Dwelley talked about their experience helping a utility go to market with a competitive smart home offering in a regulated environment.
Liz Kelley Amanda Dwelley
Methods and Metrics for Divergent Populations
In their 2018 BECC presentation, Allison T. Musvosvi and Shefije Miftari share how their research helped a client listen to their customers to create the right solution to enter the smart home space.
Shefije Miftari
Machine Learning and Ethnography: An Unlikely Pair
The challenge of unstructured data, and why machine learning and AI needs a qualitative methodology like Topic Modeling to be more effective. Presented by Riana Johnson at BECC 2018.
Riana Johnson
What Drives Customers?
In her 2018 presentation at the CEE Partner Meeting, Sara Conzemius shares what customers care about—home, family, harmony, agency. Understanding what influences customers can help implementers offer programs and products that truly connect.
Sara Conzemius
Energy Efficiency is Being Treated like a Resource at Scale, Where Does Billing Analysis Fit?
In their poster presentation at ACEEE Summer Study 2018, Jes Rivas and Pace Goodman discuss the pros, cons, and possible policy implications for expanding the use of consumption analysis in evaluation.
Jes Rivas Pace Goodman
Diverse Communications for Diverse Customers
In their 2018 EEI workshop, Anne Dougherty and Allison T. Musvosvi share findings from our research on how concepts of energy, home, and community resonate across diverse customer groups.
Anne Dougherty
ENERGY STAR® Retail Products Platform (RPP): Conditions and Considerations in Evaluating Market Transformation Programs and Evaluation Guidance for RPP
In their report for SEE Action, Sara Conzemius and Alex Dunn provide guidance that can be used for estimating energy savings impacts resulting from midstream market transformation programs with specific focus on RPP.
Sara Conzemius Alexandra Dunn
Small Business and Behavioral Energy Efficiency: Dividing Deep into Data to Estimate Statewide Potential
In her BECC 2017 presentation, Eileen Hannigan share an overview of her statewide potential study of the behavioral savings potential—and tactics to reach those savings—with Minnesota small and medium businesses.
Eileen Hannigan
Clearing up the Unclear Savings of Advanced Thermostats in Illinois
In this presentation, Pace Goodman shares how he got agreement on smart thermostat evaluation methods across more than 15 stakeholder groups and created much needed certainty in the Illinois market.
Pace Goodman
Finding Big Potential in Small Businesses: Behavior Change Opportunities and Targeting Approaches from a Statewide Study
Eileen Hannigan’s white paper shares how small businesses, which may have limited capital for large investments, are good candidates for low-cost behavior change conservation.
Eileen Hannigan
Statewide Commercial Behavior Segmentation and Potential Study
What is the behavioral intervention potential in Minnesota small businesses? And how do you get them to engage? Anne Dougherty, Eileen Hannigan, and Shannon Kahl answer those questions in this 2017 report.
Anne Dougherty Eileen Hannigan Shannon Kahl
The Devil’s in the Details: What is the Effect of Methodological Decisions on Estimated Savings?
Why do savings estimates change from one analysis to the next, even when evaluation methods are consistent? Jes Rivas and Pace Goodman attempt to answer this question in this report for IEPEC 2017.
Jes Rivas Pace Goodman
Natural Gas Segmentation Study
Anne Dougherty, Amanda Dwelley, and Shannon Kahl studied the attitudes and behaviors of natural gas consumers in the Pacific Northwest. They explain their findings in their 2017 report for NEEA.
Anne Dougherty Amanda Dwelley Shannon Kahl
Mapping the Customer Journey
In her 2016 BECC presentation, Amanda Dwelley discusses our work journey mapping 11 of Consumers Energy’s residential programs. By identifying and prioritizing improvements, she shares the ways the process optimizes delivery.
Amanda Dwelley
Energy Kits: Maximizing the Savings Potential
In this overview by Mallika Jayaraman, she summarizes the potential energy savings of energy kits.
Know Before You Go
Sara Conzemius and Danielle Marquis of SmartWatt describe how up-front investment in market research and segmentation can improve outcomes in small business direct install programs.
Sara Conzemius
Northwest Ductless Heat Pump Initiative: Market Progress Evaluation Report #5
Co-authored by Sara Conzemius and Shannon Kahl. The fifth market progress evaluation of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s (NEEA) Ductless Heat Pump Initiative assesses the Initiative’s progress in meeting its market transformation goals.
Sara Conzemius Shannon Kahl
Matching and VIA: Quasi-Experimental Methods in a World of Imperfect Data
Co-authored by Eileen Hannigan and presented at the 2015 IEPEC conference.
Eileen Hannigan
Northwest Ductless Heat Pump Initiative: Market Progress Evaluation Report #4
Sara Conzemius provides an update on the Ductless Heat Pump Initiative for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.
Sara Conzemius
Minnesota Department of Commerce Division of Energy Resources Behavior Energy Efficiency Behavioral Programs Literature Review, Benchmarking Analysis, and Evaluation and Planning Guidance
This report, led by Anne Dougherty, provide guidance for Minnesota in behavioral program design, implementation, and evaluation.
Anne Dougherty
Locational Emissions Estimation Methodology (LEEM)
Webinar By Anne Dougherty and Wayne State University
Anne Dougherty
Making Research Matter! A Talk at the Northwest Energy Efficiency Exchange
Anne Dougherty speaks on getting clear on your research goals in this video recording from the 2015 Efficiency Exchange conference in Portland.
Anne Dougherty
Today is a Transition
This presentation, Sara Conzemius’ keynote from the AESP 25th National Conference, addresses the industry’s disruption and the changes ahead.
Sara Conzemius
Consumer Message Testing for Ductless Heat Pumps and Heat Pump Water Heaters
Sara Conzemius led this report for NEEA on ductless heat pump message testing.
Sara Conzemius
Future of EM&V
Laura Schauer explores the future of EM&V in her presentation at the 2015 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference.
Laura Schauer
Assessment of Savings and Results for “Kit” Based Energy Efficiency Programming
This white paper by Sara Conzemius and Allison Carlson looks at kit savings and potential.
Sara Conzemius
Potential Savings for Tier 1 Advanced PowerStrips
A white paper by Sara Conzemius exploring the potential savings and programmatic uses of tier 1 advanced powerstrips.
Sara Conzemius
Behavioral Energy Feedback Program Evaluation
Anne Dougherty and Sara Conzemius’ white paper from the 2014 IEPEC conference in Berlin proves the need to go further than just assessing energy impacts of behavioral programs.
Anne Dougherty Sara Conzemius
Integrating Behavior Programs into Portfolio Plans to Integrate Cross-Program Effects
A white paper by Anne Dougherty and Michael Goldman on how we can explore alternative evaluation and planning approaches to diminish or remove disincentive to cross-promote programs.
Anne Dougherty
MyMeter Impact Evaluation
Anne Dougherty and Eileen Hannigan provide an impact evaluation of Accelerated Innovations’ (AI) MyMeter program.
Anne Dougherty
California Statewide Water-Energy Nexus Message
Anne Dougherty’s presentation summarizes results and recommendations from water-energy nexus message testing research she led in California.
Anne Dougherty
Lessons in Water/Energy Messaging
This brief provides findings and key takeaways from consumer message testing on the water/energy nexus in Spanish and Mandarin led by Anne Dougherty.
Anne Dougherty
The Promise and Reality of Behavior Programs
This presentation by Anne Dougherty explores whether behavior program are a reliable resource.
Anne Dougherty
The Carrot and the Evaluator; How financial incentives have affected EM&V practices
Laura Schauer presented on financial incentives and their impact on evaluation practices in the 2013 ACEEE Summer Study.
Laura Schauer
Impacts of Feedback Programs: Generating Comparable Impacts across Varying Program Design Models
Co-authored by Anne Dougherty, this white paper on feedback program was presented at IEPEC in Chicago in 2013.
Anne Dougherty
Some Insights on Matching Methods in Estimating Energy Savings for an Opt-In Behavioral- Based Energy Efficiency Program
This white paper was co-authored by Anne Dougherty and presented at IEPEC in Chicago in 2013. It examines two statistical models to estimate savings in opt-in behavioral programs.
Anne Dougherty
Paving the way for a Richer Mix of Residential Behavioral Programs
This paper, co-authored by Anne Dougherty, identifies behavior change intervention options for California programs and the intervention strategies that can make them successful.
Anne Dougherty
Comparison of Home Retrofit Programs in Wisconsin
Eileen Hannigan co-authored a report comparing Wisconsin weatherization programs for the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Building Technologies Program.
Eileen Hannigan
Supporting and Facilitating Experimentation in Energy Efficiency: Exploring New Validity Constructs to Support Inter- and Intra-Organizational Paths to Success
This white paper, which details the primary barriers to leveraging experimental design in evaluation, is co-authored by Anne Dougherty and was presented at the 2012 ACEEE Summer Study.
Anne Dougherty
Higher Savings Goals and the Rebate/Buy-Down Elephant in the Room: Recognizing When and How to Move On to Market Lift
This white paper on market lift was co-authored by Eileen Hannigan and Rick Winch and presented at the 2010 ACEEE Summer Study.
Eileen Hannigan
A Hand to Hold: A Holistic Approach to Addressing Barriers in the Home Retrofit Market
In this white paper, Sara Conzemius and Laura Schauer describe a pilot that overcame barriers to comprehensive residential retrofits using incentives, a turnkey offering, and an energy advocate.
Sara Conzemius Laura Schauer
How Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy Program Used the Power of Promotions to Accelerate the Adoption and Energy Savings of Commercial Lighting
This white paper, co-authored by Eileen Hannigan and presented at the 2010 ACEEE Summer Study proves how promotional tactics encouraged commercial lighting in the Focus on Energy Program.
Eileen Hannigan
Moving Behind Econometrics to Examine the Behavioral Change Behind Impacts
This white paper on estimating behavior change impacts, was co-authored by Anne Dougherty and Amanda Dwelley and presented at IEPEC in Boston in 2011.
Anne Dougherty Amanda Dwelley
Ethnographic Inquiry in Energy: Exploring Meaning-Making and Sociality in Language Use, Program Participation, and Behavioral Choice
This white paper on ethnography was co-authored by Anne Dougherty and presented at the 2010 ACEEE Summer Study.
Anne Dougherty
Low Income Programs—Final Results of the Longitudinal Study
Laura Schauer co-authored this white paper summarizing the results of a longitudinal study of Wisconsin’s low income programs.
Laura Schauer