How could the Weatherization Assistance Program incorporate non-energy impacts?

Weatherization provides more benefits to residents outside of saving energy. However, the Department of Energy (DOE) guidelines don’t allow programs to count improvements that don’t tie directly to energy cost savings. We aim to change that. The results of this literature review could influence the DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to include non-energy impacts (NEIs), like health in the cost-effectiveness analysis for weatherization measures. This will lead to more weatherization projects.

Oak Ridge National Labs chose Slipstream to perform a literature review of the non-energy impacts for weatherization. Our experience working on the national Weatherization Assistance Program evaluation and efforts supporting the Wisconsin weatherization program made us a top choice.  

Our team reviewed research on NEIs and provided an annotated bibliography and narrative on the issues related to NEIs within the WAP. 

Evaluation overview: See the WAP Retrospective Evaluation on the ORNL website.

Our report: Click here to view the final report (PDF).

Weatherization Assistance Program experience: Slipstream was a key partner in the team that implemented the national evaluation of the Weatherization Assistance Program. Slipstream conducted a survey of more than 900 weatherization agencies throughout the country and led a 500-home study of the effects of weatherization on indoor air quality.

Wisconsin weatherization program experience: Slipstream has a rich history supporting the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) locally in Wisconsin and across the country. We develop and deliver building science and programmatic trainings. We provide expert guidance to develop program specifications. Our team of innovative experts have completed more than 450 weatherization building science, technical, programmatic, and health and safety trainings since 2009.