One of the most anticipated presentations at our recent biannual meeting was the sneak-peak at our first-ever Virginia Energy Efficiency Census, the report on which will be released in early 2014. The slide presentation overview of the census results is available on the VAEEC website.

To complete this landmark report, we have requested two things from VAEEC members:

1. Review the draft report. We’re looking for a handful of volunteers to sit on the Census Report Review Committee and provide feedback on the draft report in early January. Please email Harold@vaeec.org to be a part of the committee.
2. Provide real world examples. Many of the key findings of the report will be much stronger in the eyes of policymakers when paired with actual examples. We are seeking anectdotes and testimonials that speak to the following results:

• A full half of Virginia’s energy efficiency and renewable energy businesses obtain 75% or greater of their income from these sectors. Does your business focus almost exclusively on energy efficiency?
• The number of energy efficiency sector businesses has grown 191% since 2000. Is your business new to Virginia in the last 13 years?
• The factors that businesses cite for hiring new staff in this field include: consumer awareness, access to incentives, access to utility programs, and economic development support. Has your business hired new staff thanks in part to those factors or, v/v, been stymied by the lack of those programs?
• Businesses acknowledged that the skills gap that prevented additional hiring were customer service/sales, energy auditing, and engineering and design. Have these or other skills gaps hindered your efforts to add jobs?
• The most desired market catalysts identified were green/energy efficiency programs, performance-based incentives, rebates, adoption and enforcement of enhanced building codes and improved access to customer energy use data. Can you envision ways these programs could – or have – bolster your business?

If you’re willing to tell your company’s story to underscore the above data points, please email info@vaeec.org or harold@vaeec.org by January 10, 2014.  You and your company will receive credit in the final report.