Welcome to Winter
While most of the country has
been experiencing a wintry blast
of bad weather, we have been
able to escape the winter blues
through a flurry of activity of
our own. Johnson
Consulting Group staff, that
includes Corine Mahon and
myself, enjoyed a wonderful
getaway to Winter Park and
Orlando for the Annual
Association of Energy Services
Professional (AESP) Conference.
Dr. Katherine Johnson,
President

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Interacting at AESP

AESP
is certainly the go-to event for the
energy community. The conference
enjoyed another record-breaking year in
attendance and featured some innovative
new presentation formats.
Katherine also celebrated her
re-election to the board in fine style
with a friend.
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Policy Session: "Huey, Dewey and
Louisiana! Collaboratives"
- The AESP conference sessions
kicked off with an interesting
comparison of collaborative
approaches to developing energy
efficiency programs launched.
Katherine moderated a session with
Cathy Herren and Lana Lovick
(Entergy New Orleans), Melissa Piper
(National Grid), and Elaine Bryant
(PSE&G), who candidly shared their
insights (and frustrations) with
developing programs by committee.
One of the highlights was learning
of the progress Entergy has made in
helping to rebuild New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina. Thanks again for
sharing.
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Barakat
& Chamberlin Reunion
- it wouldn't be an AESP conference
if it didn't include a reunion of
former Barakat & Chamberlin alumni.
It was a wonderful chance to see our
former colleagues: (left) Jim
Niewald, ICF; Greg Wikler, Global
Energy Partners; Bill LeBlanc, E
Source; Dan Engel, Freeman &
Sullivan Co. (back); Carol
Sabo, Tetra Tech; Katherine Johnson;
Terry Fry, Nexant; and Scott
Dimetrosky, Opinion Dynamics. Also
attending the conference but far
more camera shy were Sami Khawaja
and Hossein Haeri, Cadmus Group, and
Bill Prindle, ICF.
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More Interacting at AESP in Orlando

AESP Interactive Roundtable Session:
"Soup to Nuts..." Another
interesting twist was the 90 minute
interactive session moderated by Dan Tarrence and featuring Brent Archer and
Chris Griffin of
Columbia Gas of
Virginia. This interactive session included a
project overview as well as group
activities designed to illustrate the
key issues that need to be considered in
developing a comprehensive EM&V plan.
The feedback was overwhelming positive,
and many thanks to Brent and Chris for
being willing to share their own
"lessons learned" so far in program
evaluation. Could this be an
upcoming Brown Bag? Who knows. |
A Flurry of Process Evaluations
One of the really interesting parts of
conducting process evaluations across
diverse utilities is to analyze the
innovative ways in which these programs
are offered to customers. These
evaluations illustrate three different
approaches to promoting energy
efficiency measures and behaviorial
change to customers:
-
The
Partners in Energy Savings (PIES)
Collaborative-a group of four
natural gas utilities in Colorado,
promoted their portfolio of energy
efficient rebates and home energy
checkups through its Excess is Out
branding campaign.
-
Columbia
Gas of Virginia used a different
approach- emphasizing energy savings
through its WarmWise brand to
promote a similar set of program
offerings to both residential and
small commercial customers.
-
PECO's
Smart Home Rebate Program has taken
a much more humorous approach -
focusing on ways to get rid of
"energy monsters" through its
equipment rebates and appliance
recycling programs.
During the next few months, Katherine
will be analyzing the effects of these
different approaches - as well as
identifying some of the challenges of
marketing these types of programs to
customers. The lessons learned from
these process evaluations, especially
those in the start up phase, will be
presented at the next International
Energy Program Evaluation Conference
Getting out of the Starting Blocks:
Challenges with PY1 Portfolio
Evaluations in Boston,
August 16-18, 2011.
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Interacting at AESP
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More Interacting
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A Flurry of Process
Evaluations
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Where in the World
is Dr. KJ?
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Christmas with an
Arab...and Jewish
Flavor
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Christmas with an Arab
and Jewish Flavor
Katherine
enjoyed a whirlwind trip
to Israel right before
the holidays with her
sister, Carolyn, and
daughter, Emily. The
five-day action pack
tour covered the entire
country from the modern
skyscrapers of Tel Aviv,
to the dusty streets of
Nazareth, the
underwater sights of Eliat and the spiritual
wonders of Jerusalem.
Highlights of the trip
for Emily included scuba
diving in Eliat and
riding a camel at a
Bedouin tent, while
Katherine was thrilled
to find solar water
heaters everywhere-even
in the Mt. of Olives.
It was a truly memorable
trip and we're already
planning our next
visit-at more relaxed
pace. Check out the
pictures, including
Katherine and Emily
"floating" in the Dead
Sea.
To view more photos,
click here.
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