Contest Workshops and Open House
 

to Contest Workshop Presentation     

• Click here for DMEA Energy Efficiency Program Design and Implementation Workshop for utilities to be presented on Friday, Nov. 11 

Who should attend: Residential energy efficiency program designers, implementers and evaluators for small to medium-sized cooperative-owned and public power utilities as well as managers of utility member service, marketing and communications activities.
 

• Click here for details for DMEA Home Energy Efficiency Workshop for DMEA members to be presented on Saturday, Nov. 12

Who should attend: DMEA members who want to learn about home energy efficiency.  Attendance is limited to the first 60 DMEA members who register by calling (970) 249-4572 or email dcarron@dmea.com.

DMEA Energy Efficiency Workshop Agenda

Co-sponsored by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association,  Colorado Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation, Western Area Power Administration, NRECA Cooperative Research Network, and the Colorado Energy Science Center

Friday, November 11, 2005 
DMEA Headquarters,
Montrose, Colorado

Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA) is a 30,000-member cooperative in rural Southwestern Colorado that has achieved national recognition for its innovation in promoting residential energy efficiency. Learn how DMEA develops, launches, and cost-justifies its efforts. Discover the strategies and tactics that have made these programs successful… and the lessons that DMEA has learned in the process.

Friday, November 11, 2005

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.   Registration and Continental Breakfast 

8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.  Building and Maintaining Management Support for Home Energy Efficiency Initiatives

DMEA’s program success begins with senior management and a board of directors that nurtures a cooperative culture with a “3-legged stool” concept which gives equal importance to the (1) operational effectiveness of a wire company, (2) promoting members’ efficient energy use, and (3) renewable, sustainable energy initiatives.   

• Dan McClendon, General Manager

9:15 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.  Calculating and Articulating the Strategic Value of Residential Energy Efficiency

Discover how DMEA cost-justifies its program initiatives based on the win-win benefits to members and the cooperative coupled with strong community involvement.  Learn how DMEA leveraged 15-minute interval meter data from 350 homes to help determine the load curves of various customer types and calculate the net present value of promoting efficient electric technologies… and the risk of relying on traditional plug loads to payback investments in distribution backbone. 

• Paul Bony, Member Services and Marketing Manager, DMEA

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.  Break

10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.  Building Sustainable Base Load (and a Green Halo) With GeoExchange Heat Pumps

Almost 500 ground source heat pumps have been installed in the region within the past 6 years by DMEA’s subsidiary installation company and competitors.  Every geo system owner is welcomed into a GeoExchange Comfort Club with a quarterly newsletter and annual dinner (think Harley Davidson and Saturn).  Learn how and why DMEA embraced GeoExchange to recapture the heating and cooling market from propane/gas furnaces and evaporative coolers.  One measure of DMEA’s success: the local investor-owned gas company ran newspaper ads bashing GeoExchange as not as “natural” as gas heat.   

• Tom Polikalas, Communications Supervisor, DMEA 

11:15 a.m. –12 noon     Leveraging Whole House Initiatives (and Vendor Alliances) with Home Energy Makeover Contest

 “Home Energy Improvements Don’t Cost, They Pay” is the theme of this initiative that dramatically demonstrates whole house energy efficiency by urging homeowners to enter a contest with a $25,000 top prize to the home that can best showcase energy efficiency improvements.  Over a dozen local home improvement contractors embraced this program concept and are working together to show that, as Doug Rye says, “If you pay too much for home energy, it’s your own darn fault.”  Learn how DMEA partnered with Colorado Energy Center to rank contest entries, used TREAT software and blower door testing to analyze the finalists’ homes, and leveraged web-based, self-audit calculators to allow all contest entrants to learn how much they could save by using energy smarter. 

• Ed Thomas, Market Development Manager, InterMountain Energy

12 noon – 1:30 p.m.    Establishing Stakeholder Alliances 

“Working Lunch” provided with Roundtable discussion with key DMEA stakeholders instrumental to program success.  Discover how DMEA leverages resources from national (ENERGY STARÒ, Cooperative Research Network, Zero Energy Homes/Building America, Solar Powers America, Energy Hog, Touchstone Energy), regional (Tri-State Generation and Transmission and Generation, Western Area Power Administration, GeoPowering the West) and state (Colorado Office of Energy Management and Conservation, Energy Outreach Colorado, Colorado Energy Science Center) energy organizations.

• Paul Bony, Member Services and Marketing Manager, DMEA with panel presenters:

• Margie Bates with DOE Regional Office, Golden

• Mark McGahey with Tri-State Generation and Transmission

• Peggy Plate with Western Area Power Administration

• Bob Gibson, Cooperative Research Network 

1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.   Clipping Peaks (and Embracing Community Non-Profits) with a CFL Light Bulb Fund Raiser

Replacing the 5 most used incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents should save DMEA members about $25 per year while netting DMEA almost $12 in reduced peak power purchases the first year alone… and the CFLs have a 9-year warranty.  At those rates, DMEA could afford to give away the CFLs, but learn the strategy and tactics behind why DMEA chose instead to offer Touchstone Energy branded CFLs for sale through local non-profit groups as a fund raiser.

• Ed Thomas, Market Development Manager, InterMountain Energy and 

• Tom Polikalas, Communications Supervisor, DMEA

2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.   Exploring Fuel Cells as a Distributed Generation Alternative for Off-Grid Homeowners

DMEA installed one of the first propane-powered fuel outside of a laboratory.  In 2005, Plug Power, DMEA and Intermountain Energy conducted customer research to better understand the market potential for installing propane fuel cells in off-grid residential applications.  Learn the latest about how this technology could eliminate the need for expensive line extensions to serve remote homes. 

• Paul Bony, Member Services and Marketing Manager, DMEA; 

• Kirk Vinings, Regional Sales Manager, Plug Power; and 

• Ed Thomas, Market Development Manager, InterMountain Energy

3:30 pm – 5:00 pm   Open Forum and Closing Remarks

On-Site. A limited number of complementary workshop registrations are available to members of event co-sponsors (Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Western Area Power Administration and Cooperative Research Network).  All others will be invoiced $395 per person for the workshop materials and Proceedings.