Energy efficiency programs have been implemented by various organizations for over twenty-five years. Programs have evolved and improved by taking advantage of both formal and informal communication of program features and lessons learned. The Energy Efficiency Best Practices Project seeks to build off this experience and knowledge by establishing a structure for analyzing and communicating best practices to help meets today’s complex energy challenges.

The purpose of this best practices project is to develop and communicate excellent practices nationwide in order to enhance the design, implementation, and evaluation of energy efficiency programs. The project uses a benchmarking methodology to identify best practices for a wide variety of program types.

A number of products have been developed through this best practices project, including:

	Best Practices Self-Benchmarking Tool: Use this easy tool to identify in your own programs their strengths, areas of improvement needed, and strategies for improving them, based on the results of the Best Practices Study.  Just download the Self-Benchmarking Spreadsheet and Instruction Sheet and you'll have everything you need. Click Here for the Self-Benchmarking Tool
	Best Practices Program Area Reports: For each program category, an in-depth Program Area Report presents detailed comparative analyses of benchmarked programs and identification of best practices, associated rationales, key program category-specific issues, and lessons learned.
	Executive Summaries of Best Practices Program Area Reports: Want the short version? Here are key findings of the Best Practices Program Area Reports.
	Individual Program Summary Profiles: These profiles provide information about each program’s basic approach to program management, implementation, marketing, and evaluation. The profile also includes a list of sources and the program contact.