The Center for Sustainable Energy® (CSE) has launched the new Home Energy Improvement Potential Map. The free online resource gives contractors, home energy raters, real estate agents and local governments a tool to identify California homeowners and communities by ZIP code and census tract where residents are most likely to engage in energy improvements from energy efficiency upgrades to solar installations and electric vehicle purchases.
The map allows users to search data such as housing characteristics, homeowner demographics, heating and cooling days, solar installations, electric vehicle purchases, energy consumption and the percentage of homeowners who have participated in energy improvement-related programs. The modeling program powering the map balances a wide variety of aspects that identify hotspots throughout the state where neighborhoods have a high potential for doing energy improvement projects based upon the actions taken by other residents.
Visit the Home Energy Improvement Potential Map
Users click on hotspots to learn about the consumer behaviors of the market segments residing in that area: what kind of cars they drive, what types of magazines they read and other characteristics that help identify what makes that area have a higher propensity for activities focused on sustainability. The overarching goal of the Home Energy Improvement Potential Map is to help contractors focusing on home energy performance and real estate professionals better target their marketing resources, look for trends and identify sales opportunities.
“Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world powered by clean energy,” said CSE Executive Director Len Hering, RADM, USN (ret.). “If we can provide businesses with a tool to help them operate more effectively, and provide customers with energy-saving technologies and solutions, then we are accomplishing our goal.”
The map is an aggregation of public data focused on market segmentations that can influence a consumer’s propensity to be receptive to clean technologies or energy improvements that can help reduce energy consumption and increase utility bill savings. Research shows that residential energy upgrades tend to be in neighborhood clusters where homes are of the same age and owner occupied and when residents have participated in a utility or other energy-saving program. The Home Energy Improvement Potential Map is online at EnergyCenter.org/energymap.
The map was created in part through funding from Energy Upgrade California®, a statewide initiative focused on providing energy management solutions to residential, multifamily and small business so they can help California reach its efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction goals. For more information, visit EnergyUpgradeCA.org.