Review of Evaluation, Measurement and Verification Approaches Used to Estimate the Load Impacts and Effectiveness of Energy Efficiency Programs

Public and private funding for end-use energy efficiency actions is expected to increase significantly in the United States over the next decade. Increased funding should result in more benefits as well as more scrutiny of these results. Therefore, evaluating the effectiveness and energy saving impacts of energy efficiency programs is likely to become increasingly important for policymakers and private and public funders of efficiency actions. This report focuses on evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) issues relating to estimating savings and impacts of energy efficiency programs and includes: A review of the strengths and weaknesses of current EM&V methods and practices; EM&V issues associated with improving and scaling up EM&V practices under several future federal and regional efficiency funding and implementation scenarios; and Suggested activities and projects that address these emerging EM&V issues and support more consistent and standardized approaches to estimating the savings, impacts, and effectiveness of energy efficiency programs.