USDA-DOE Webinar Series on Rural Energy Efficiency

This week, the Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will wrap up their six-part webinar series on the Rural Utilities Service's new Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program (EECLP). Through the EECLP, USDA’s Rural Utilities Service provides direct loans to rural electric cooperatives and other rural electricity providers to support renewable and efficient energy.

The sixth and final webinar, "Solar Program Overview," will be a chance to hear from solar experts on developing a solar program on a community scale. It will include discussion and shared lessons learned on various policy and program characteristics that have been successfully field tested throughout the country. The webinar will be held live on Thursday, January 22 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm EST. You can register for the webinar (or view the recording afterward) here.

All previous webinars in the series were recorded and are available for free:

1.  Overview and Cost Effectiveness

This episode offers a base knowledge on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program (EECLP).

2.  Evaluation, Monitoring, & Verification

This webinar covers EMV issues while offering an overview of processes involved in pre-program savings estimation and post-program evaluation.

3.  Residential Energy Efficiency Deep Dive, Part One

This webinar shares the best practices from more than 40 state and local governments who participated in DOE’s Better Buildings Neighborhood Program. This episode focuses on market position and business model, program design, customer experience, financing, data evaluation and collection, and contractor relations.

4.  Residential Energy Efficiency Deep Dive, Part Two

Continuing from Part One, this webinar focuses on data collection, community-based outreach, financial institution partner opportunities, and an in-depth case study featuring Jackson Electric Member Corporation.

5.  On-Bill Financing

This webinar focuses on financing energy efficiency improvements through OBF. in which utilities issue loans for energy improvements that are repaid as part of the utility bill. The webinar features in-depth case studies by both Roanoke Electric Cooperative and North Arkansas Electric Cooperative, the first two recipients of EECLP loans. 

For more information on the EECLP and on-bill financing, please see EESI's newly redesigned webpage for our OBF initiative.