August Top 10 Solutions

The 10 most-viewed resources from the past month include two new resources: the Clean Energy for Low-Income Communities Accelerator (CELICA) Toolkit and the Residential Energy Efficiency for Local Governments Guide. Check them out below!

1. Clean Energy for Low-Income Communities (CELICA) Toolkit - NEW 

Low-income households spend about 8% of their income on energy costs, three times more than average. Accelerator partners committed $335 million to help 155,000 low-income households access energy efficiency and renewable energy benefits, collecting resources and lessons learned into the CELICA Toolkit. The toolkit includes a guide to program development and replicable program models for single-family and multifamily housing, as well as community solar. Read more.

2. K-12 Lighting Toolkit

For K-12 schools in the U.S., energy bills represent the second-highest operating expense behind salaries. By optimizing their lighting equipment and operations, K-12 schools can save up to 50% on energy use. This resource covers a wide range of K-12-specific technical implementation details, case studies, specifications, and other best practices for how to implement energy-efficient lighting in schools. Read more.

3. Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) Toolkit

This collection of resources enables state and local communities to benefit from the experience of partners who have successfully established and implemented performance contracting. It includes best practices and innovative approaches that states, cities, and K-12 schools have used. Users can easily find the information they need at each stage of their ESPC decision-making process. Read more.

4. Outdoor Lighting Decision Tree Tool

This decision tree provides an interactive and visual representation of scenarios and questions typically encountered in upgrading/replacing a public outdoor lighting system. The tool features successful cases and models used by cities and states to help find solutions to common barriers. Read more.

5. Residential Energy Efficiency for Local Governments - NEW

This resource guide is designed to help local governments develop and implement policies and programs for improving the energy efficiency of single-family and multifamily homes in their communities. The guide is divided up into six helpful strategies, each including replicable examples from local governments across the country, analytical tools, and other informational resources. Read more.

6. Efficiency-as-a-Service Toolkit

Efficiency-as-a-service (EaaS) is a pay-for-performance, off-balance sheet financing solution that allows customers to implement energy and water efficiency projects with no upfront capital expenditure. It is a relatively new financing mechanism, in which customers pay a provider for the service of energy savings. This new toolkit provides resources and case studies for building owners, operators, and occupants who may want to take advantage of EaaS for energy and water projects. Read more.

7. Efficiency-Resilience Nexus Resources

This easy-to-use Resilience Resource Navigator helps building operators, state and local officials, utilities, and other organizations take steps to build resilience and increase their ability to bounce back from natural disasters and other stressors. Resources include roadmaps for community-wide resilience planning, financing and design guidance for building owners and operators, and webinars featuring experts who have undertaken resilience improvements. Read more.

8. High-Efficiency RTU Replacement Toolkit

This toolkit helps HVAC contractors and service companies work with their customers through a step-by-step process of evaluating and managing their inventory of rooftop units (RTUs) and how to evaluate the business case for high-efficiency replacements. From an incentives database to a comparison calculator, the toolkit provides everything needed to make an informed decision regarding RTU replacements. Read more.

9. Public Sector Energy Financing Primer

Part of the Better Buildings Financing Navigator, this primer includes a range of case studies, market data, and other resources to help state and local governments and other public sector entities overcome common barriers to energy financing. Topics featured in this primer include internal funding, ESPC, and power purchase agreements (PPAs). Read more.

10. Better Plants' Technology Focus Areas 

This collection of individual technology focus area-webpages provides manufacturers and water and wastewater treatment facilities with actionable solutions for energy efficiency challenges involving specific systems like lighting, process heating, and compressed air. Each of the 13 pages contains helpful resources, including relevant Better Plants showcase projects and implementation models, DOE tipsheets and publications, software tools, webinars, and contact information for subject matter experts. Read more.