What Is Community Energy Coaching?
Energy coaching is a community-driven educational program that local governments or organizations can offer residents to encourage the adoption of efficient technologies such as heat pumps, weatherization, and electric appliances. Coaches can be volunteers or paid staff. The program raises awareness about home improvements and connects homeowners with trained community members who can offer one-on-one consultations, educational tools and resources, support for accessing and navigating energy efficiency programs, and guidance on managing contractor engagement. They act as a neutral third-party, offering a welcoming, low-pressure environment for homeowners to learn and ask questions. Energy coaching complements state and utility efficiency programs and streamlines contractor customer access and project delivery.
Why Offer Energy Coaching?
Energy coaching is a relatively low cost but volunteer-intensive program model. While it does not require significant amounts of funding, a successful coaching program needs administrative support to organize, raise awareness, and find and train new coaches. Investing in coaching program administration can help communities achieve climate goals while reducing utility costs and improving comfort for homeowners and renters. Energy coaching does this by utilizing local expertise and trust to demystify performance upgrades and identify applicable financial incentives. Many communities have been able to affordably operate energy coaching programs by leveraging local community members as volunteers.
Coaching excels in advancing residential energy efficiency and heat pump adoption because rapidly advancing technologies, confusing financial incentives, and myriad design considerations can make the home improvement process complex and overwhelming. Moreover, community members have varying motivations for improving the energy efficiency of their home, including concerns about pollution reduction, a desire to reduce operating costs, comfort, aesthetics, or a range of other considerations. Energy coaches cut through this complexity by helping community members understand their options and make informed decisions.
NEEP Resources
NEEP is advancing energy coaching by strategically engaging partners across the region via learning cohorts, documenting best practices, and delivering resources that help local governments and other stakeholders implement coaching programs in their own communities.
Launching Community Energy Coaching Programs: An Implementation Toolkit and Guide
This toolkit provides local and regional governments and nonprofits with the resources and information needed to launch an organized coaching program including important program details, template website language, and tips on building a communication strategy.
