Emerging issues in the evaluation of energy-efficiency programs: the US experience

Abstract

The evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) of energy-efficiency programs has a rich and extensive history in the United States, dating back to the late 1970s. During this time, many different kinds of EM&V issues have been addressed: technical (primarily focusing on EM&V methods and protocols), policy (primarily focusing on how EM&V results will be used by energy-efficiency program managers and policymakers), and infrastructure (primarily focusing on the development of EM&V professionals and an EM&V workforce). We address the issues that are currently important and/or are expected to become more critical in the coming years. We expect many of these issues will also be relevant for a non-US audience, particularly as more attention is paid to the reliability of energy savings and carbon emissions reductions from energy-efficiency programs.