Compare and Conserve (CnC) provides several benefits to city and utility planners.
The homeowner functionality acts as a demand side management (DSM) program using social-pressure and human competition to drive consumption down.
When household energy use becomes broadly available it makes low-consumption homes more visible and desirable in the local marketplace, influencing home purchases. This market pressure can be powerful.
The local business functionality acts as another DSM program, with contractors marketing directly to homeowners who need it the most. This drives up rebate participation and pushes those who can afford to upgrade get started.
DSM programs can be rapidly evaluated for efficacy to get a snapshot of how a program is doing. Efficacy estimates are not as thorough as a complete audit, but are great for status reports.
