Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of STBs and SNE

“This is a big win for nearly every American who pays a monthly television bill because experts tell me that federal standards could not have produced this much financial and energy savings by 2017.”

—SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN D-CALIFORNIA

The Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of STBs and SNE

Overview

The Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of Set-Top Boxes (VA STBs) and the Voluntary Agreement for  Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of Small Network Equipment (VA SNE) are two historic initiatives designed to make set-top boxes and residential broadband equipment more energy efficient. Through united industry action, U.S. manufacturers commit to reducing the environmental impact of STBs and SNE while increasing benefits to consumers.

The Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement for Set-Top Boxes (VA CEEVA) followed suit after the successes realized from the US initiatives.

The Solution

Manufacturers of STBs and SNE wanted to voluntarily improve the energy-efficiency of equipment across the industry. In order to achieve their goal, they needed a firm that could learn the market and technology and demonstrated capabilities in analyzing and reporting highly confidential data.

As the independent administrator and data aggregator of the voluntary agreements, D+R International, created a systematic approach to collect and analyze the signatories’ data, conduct diligent audits, and summarize the findings in yearly reports that track progress and highlight growth and achievements of the voluntary agreements.

The Impact

The voluntary agreements have delivered rapid results that impact sustainability in ways that would not have been possible under other approaches. As the independent administrator and data aggregator for the programs, D+R delivers an annual report that provides transparency, public accountability, and objective updates on the programs’ progress toward greater energy efficiency. D+R’s findings include including:

  • At the end of 2017, The VA STBs saved 8 TWh of electricity, avoided 20.6 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, and saved consumers $3.5 billion in electricity costs.
  • For SNE, the service provider signatories served 94.8 million residential U.S. internet subscribers at the end of 2017, accounting for 89.1% of the U.S. market.
  • For CEEVA, in 2017 the first reporting year, signatories demonstrated successful deployment of energy-efficient set-top boxes, with 100% of devices meeting the requirement energy levels.

“From developing and organizing outreach programs to obtaining vital corporate sponsorships, D+R International has played a pivotal role in the success of Solar Decathlon. Every dollar spent on a student’s introduction to energy technologies is an investment that pays back for decades. Considering more than 25,000  students have enjoyed a day with the teams because of D+R’s efforts, integration of solar technologies—rather than being a futuristic concept in a textbook—are an everyday part of their lives.”

—LANI MACRAE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

Overview

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DoE) Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition that challenges students to design and build highly-efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The program provides students with unique training that prepares them for a career in the clean energy workforce. In 2008, D+R International was engaged by the DoE ENERGY STAR program to develop and implement a middle school outreach component to help educate and build student awareness of the importance of energy-efficiency and renewable energy.

The Solution

Due in part to its experience with the ENERGY STAR program as well as the National Education Association (NEA), D+R was selected to establish an Education Day program that would bring middle school students together to visit, explore, and learn more about renewable homes at the 2009 Solar Decathlon on the National Mall.

To build middle school student awareness of the importance of renewable energy and the Solar Decathlon event, D+R implemented three main components for the Education Day event, including:

Student Broadcast Network outreach:

Throughout the week of Education Day, student reporters covered the Solar Decathlon competition with interviews on topics such as energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy. The reporters’ interviews were then transmitted to anchors in a newsroom at NEA headquarters and streamed by NEA into classrooms nationwide.

Education Day tours:
Students were invited to tour the renewable homes for a first-hand look at the resources, technology, and innovation utilized in the Solar Decathlon competition. Volunteer mentors were on hand to answer any questions the students had.

Education Day workshops:
During the home tours, students attended fun workshops that were designed to engage and introduce them to the ideas of conserving and using energy.

More than 3,000 students attended the first Education Day. In addition to the Education Day events, D+R implemented a sponsorship program that raised more than $500,000 from private partners to offset the cost of the 2009 Education Day program.

To this day, D+R continues to build upon the Solar Decathlon’s educational outreach efforts and is the longest serving contractor in this 22-year program.

The Impact

Solar Decathlon is one of DoE’s most successful outreach efforts. By educating middle school students about the benefits, affordability, and availability of clean energy solutions, the program has established a reputation as a successful educational program for thousands of students.

Since the 2009 launch of Education Day:

  • D+R has raised over $1M in funding for the program
  • More than 340,000 teachers have participated in the D+R Solar Decathlon educational outreach efforts
  • More than 25,000 students have participated in the Education Days

DRIVE – HARDI Unitary Report

The Challenge

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment manufacturer with sales operations across the U.S. wanted to get a more detailed understanding of the ductless HVAC market growth and size on a regional level. The company, in formulating their business strategy and production plan for next year, required the data to help them assess growth rates and address the market’s transformation from heating to cooling HVAC equipment. While the client had access to their own sales information and national market trends, they did not have access current market trends at the regional level. The client’s own analysis and growth estimates, based on data captured from annual industry reports, indicated that the ductless market grew by 12.1% between 2013 and 2014.

The Solution

Using the HARDI Unitary Report based on DRIVE, D+R’s web-based business tool, the client could compare their national estimates with the actual ship-through information, learning that the actual market growth figure was closer to 10.58%. Additionally, using aggregated market information in the HARDI Unitary Report enabled the client to get a precise understanding of regional HVAC market variations, including which geographic regions were experiencing the highest rates of growth. DRIVE not only allowed the client to access and view relevant data, it provided them with necessary data to make informed, strategic business decisions. Using this data, the client was able to switch their production line three weeks earlier than originally scheduled and realign their manufacturing process to respond to current market circumstances.

With the market data available through DRIVE, the client was positioned to better evaluate their own market share, assess their sales and business development performance at the regional level, use the information to more accurately run their own market projection models and develop tailored marketing campaigns to more accurately target potential customers in high-growth regions.

Reporting also became quick and easy. The client could generate on-demand reports using specific data sets, to deliver critical information and to make more informed real-time decisions.

For more information, please visit:
HARDI Website
2017 HARDI Unitary Report Year in Review Video Link

DRIVE – NAED Market Data Program

The Challenge

The National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) is the voice of the electrical distributor. As such, the association provides its members with the tools, information and assistance to help them thrive and improve the electrical distribution channel.

NAED recognized that providing access to market data would expand the value it brings to its members. However, the association did not have the expertise to collect and manage the data and would need to engage an outside company due to anti-trust issues. After a rigorous search for an independent, third-party research provider to develop and administer a market share program, the association selected D+R International.

The Solution

D+R’s DRIVE is a full-service solution that provides NAED with the processes and tool necessary to ensure its program meets the needs of its members. When D+R was first engaged, we met with NAED’s Market Data Task Force to identify ways the organization could best leverage data to advance its members’ strategic goals.

Following a six-month roll-out, NAED has their own market share program tool (built by D+R but owned by NAED) that allows members to submit, aggregate and analyze market data on the electrical wholesale distribution market. The tool allows members to breakdown data by geographic area, customer segment and product category, and participants will be able to benchmark their own performance against the aggregate market.

For the data collection and management, D+R provides full-service assistance to participating distributors.  This includes:

  • Onboarding training on data submission and system use
  • Product identification and categorization
  • Customer identification and segmentation
  • Data cleaning and processing
  • Technical support on reports

For more information, please visit:
NAED Website
NAED Market Data Program Video
NAED Market Data Program Playlist

Take a Test DRIVE

Take an interactive test DRIVE of the HARDI Unitary Market Report demonstration tool.