Whole Home

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR®

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES) is a national initiative run by the U.S. Department of Energy and sponsored locally across the country. This program connects homeowners with qualified contractors and energy auditors who assess the performance of existing homes and perform targeted renovations that result in energy savings and improved comfort, safety and durability. HPwES programs often result in a certificate for the homeowner, showcasing improvements made to be used in future real estate transactions.

Home Performance in Your State

MEEA is willing to share our experience gathering stakeholders, designing programs and securing support for programs across the region. Read below to learn a little about MEEA's role in developing and coordinating Home Performance with ENERGY STAR programs, including contractor training and homeowner education. For more information please contact Molly Graham, mgraham@mwalliance.org. 

Illinois Home Performance

MEEA successfully administered a HPwES program for Illinois, with the support of ComEd, Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, four of the investor-owned utility companies in northern Illinois for ten years. The program aimed to help Illinois home and property owners decrease their energy costs while improving the comfort, safety, durability and value of their homes. MEEA served as the program's coordinator, responsible for homeowner education, contractor training and partner coordination.

This program ran from 2009 through 2019 and helped more than 11,700 homeowners within Illinois improve the energy efficiency of their homes, awarding them a Certificate of Completion that documents the work completed.

Building Science Training Series

As part of the Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program (IHP), MEEA developed and coordinated continuing education courses in advanced building science. The courses covered topics such as Home Performance Sales and Marketing, Air Sealing in Complex Homes and the Building Performance Institute (BPI)'s Building Science Principles course. These courses helped IHP Participating Contractors hone their skills and brush up on their knowledge while preparing new students to participate in Illinois Home Performance. As a result of the program ending in 2019, the Building Science Training Series is no longer available.

HVAC System Adjustment & Verified Efficiency

HVAC SAVE was a utility-sponsored training and contractor certification program that taught HVAC contractors to easily diagnose the performance of furnaces, central air conditioners, air source heat pumps and geothermal heat pumps. The training focused on how to use static pressures, system temperatures and airflows to identify existing system deficiencies, allowing contractors to make targeted repairs or adjustments.

The program ran from 2010 through 2018. During that time, MEEA trained over 2,500 contractors through approximately 125 trainings with support from various utilities throughout the Midwest. The program resulted in over 150,000 verified quality installations.