ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Michigan Energy Administration's efforts to evaluate the effectiveness and operation of numerous energy conservation programs. It deals with the measurement and conceptual issues one confronts when conducting quantitatively rigorous, methodologically sound evaluations. The chapter discusses the methodologies and results of several specific evaluation attempts. The outcome of state energy programs in the real world has repeatedly proven much more complicated and convoluted than anticipated in abstract models of human and market behavior. In Michigan, evaluation was considered a high priority early in the state's energy program and provided with adequate funding, organizational stature, and institutional support. A Michigan study, for example, found that one program resulted in a 15.2% reduction of fuel consumption using the Normalized Annual Consumption methodology and a 14.8% reduction using the 65 F degree day convention. The chapter illustrates the approaches used and the results of some evaluations conducted by the Michigan Energy Administration.
