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Traverse City Light & Power will pilot a program to help people make their homes more energy efficient this summer.
The goal is to cut costs and emissions through “energy coaching.”
Jacob Hardy, the sustainability and key accounts manager with the Traverse City utility, describes it as a kind of concierge program to help customers figure out what they can do to save energy and money.
The pilot program will provide advisors to help homeowners decide on upgrades, get quotes from contractors, assist with paperwork and more. These upgrades could include everything from sealing windows to adding insulation to installing heat pumps.
“We don't want it just to stop there,” Hardy said. “So even after that particular project is done, this person working for us as the energy coach would be there to help advise them on the next project if they wanted to take that even further.”
The program doesn’t provide funding, but following through with certain projects means customers could be eligible for the utility’s residential rebates.
This effort was inspired by a program in Holland, Michigan, called Home Energy 101, which provides residents with free home energy consultations. Traverse City Light & Power wanted to expand on that by providing people to help homeowners throughout the entire process.
The utility also helped create the energy coaching program, partnering with a graduate fellow from the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute and the nonprofit GreenHome Institute to do so. That resulted in a guidebook for other local governments and municipal utilities to use.
Energy efficiency is “one of those things that a lot of people can agree on is a good idea,” said Sarah Lee, who works with the University of Michigan’s Center for EmPowering Communities as a clean energy engagement specialist. Many upgrades are often a relatively easy way to save money and reduce emissions.
Traverse City Light & Power serves roughly 13,200 customers in the area, about 80% of which are residential. Hardy said there will be income limits on who can participate in the pilot, and that the utility is still working with nonprofits in the area to figure out what those limits will be.
By making homes more efficient, he said they could also decrease demand and help the utility meet its renewable energy goals. Right now, almost 52% of the utility's energy generation is from sources considered renewable, including wind, solar and landfill gas. It's aiming for 100% renewable energy usage by 2040.
“Energy efficiency will play a huge role, because that means less solar panels that we have to put out there,” he said. “It's kind of helping all of us at the same time.”
The pilot program begins July 1.
