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The Residential Energy Assessment Program has updated the Assessment Tool

To: Participating Auditors
Regarding Programs: Residential Energy Assessment Program
Summary:  The Residential Energy Assessment Program has updated the Assessment Tool. A new version is available now and must be used by November 1, 2022. Training and updates materials are now available.
Contact: [email protected]

This announcement contains important information about updates to the Residential Energy Assessment Tool.  

The Residential Energy Assessment Program has updated the Assessment Tool in three ways:  

  1. In support of the Climate Act, NYSERDA has made updates to the Residential Energy Assessment Program that supports informing customers about options for electrification of homes.  This aligns with measure updates made to NYSERDA’s income-eligible residential programs earlier this year, and measure updates being made to the Green Jobs – Green New York Residential Financing Program. 
  2. To support the Green Jobs – Green New York Residential Financing Program’s new Web ProForma, updates have been made to provide contractors with the necessary ProForma inputs.  
  3. General enhancements to usability and bug fixes. 

This version is required to be used by the new Web ProForma Plus for Green Jobs – Green New York Residential Financing. For all other uses of this tool through the Residential Energy Assessment Program, NYSERDA encourages the use immediately and will require its use by November 1, 2022. No earlier versions will be accepted after that date. 

Beneficial Electrification Updates 

In support of New York’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and to align with changes to the Green Jobs – Green New York (GJGNY) Residential Financing Program, the following previously announced changes have been made to the upgrade options: 

  1. In homes with natural gas space heating, the upgrade options are now high efficiency gas equipment or air source heat pump(s). 
  2. In homes with any space heating fuel other than natural gas, the only upgrade option is air source heat pump(s). 
  3. In homes with natural gas water heating, the upgrade options are now high efficiency gas equipment or heat pump water heater. 
  4. In homes with any water heating fuel other than natural gas, the only upgrade option is heat pump water heater. 

A fact sheet for home electrification has been created for contractors to provide to homeowners along with each energy assessment.  A copy can be downloaded from here.  Provide a PDF copy or hard copy to each customer. 

Updates Supporting Loan Web ProForma Plus 

To support the new online GJGNY Loan Web ProForma, the Loan Step 2 tab has been updated. This tab now contains the dollar savings per measure and energy savings by fuel type data that are required to complete the Web ProForma.   

Workflow: 

Step1:   Use the Data Collection tab to complete the assessment.  Click the Data Collection Complete Proceed To Next Step button. 

Step 2:  Use the Loan Step 1 tab to select the upgrade(s) being financed and their cost(s). 

Step 3:  Use the information on the Loan Step 2 Web ProForma Inputs tab to complete the web loan ProForma. 

General Enhancements 

  1. Several tab labels have been simplified:  The tab used for data collection is now labeled Data Collection.  The tab that displays the customer report is now labeled Summary Report. 
  2. Several on-screen messages have been added or updated to display when a recommended upgrade is missing or inappropriate. 
  3. The total heat pump capacity must be aligned with the home’s heating load. If the value entered in the heating capacity field is too large or too small, a message will display indicating that you must enter a heating capacity value that falls in this range. 
  1. When specifying an upgrade to air-source heat pump(s), the design temperature is now populated automatically based on the home’s Zip Code.   
  2. Several on-screen tool tips have been added or updated. 
  3. An issue with some thermostat upgrade scenarios has been resolved. 
  4. The logic supporting the interaction of primary A/C and room A/C has been improved. 
  5. The messaging around floor insulation, basement wall insulation, and crawlspace wall insulation has been improved. 
  6. Available water heater efficiency values have been updated to support higher efficiency equipment. 
  7. Primary supply and return duct location dropdown lists include an option labeled “Condition Space (all ducts)”. Use this option if the home has ductless mini-split heat pump(s). 
  8. The Notes field has been updated to allow easier text entry. 
  9. To support future residential electrification efforts, fields have been added to document the electrical panel type and main breaker size.  Gather and enter this information for each home.  At this time, this is a data collection portion only. This information does not print on the Summary Report and no upgrade fields are available.  
  1. When data entry is complete, click the button to move on to the next tab in the Excel workbook file.  Entries on the Data Collection tab will be automatically checked and messaging will display if any required fields are not completed. 

If a macro security message displays, use the information from this webpage to learn how to enable macros for the NYSERDA Residential Energy Audit Tool:   

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/a-potentially-dangerous-macro-has-been-blocked-0952faa0-37e7-4316-b61d-5b5ed6024216

If you’re unable or uncomfortable enabling macros, the Tool will still work.  Use the Excel tabs at the bottom of the screen to navigate to the Summary Report. 

  1. An issue with the Print function has been resolved. 
  2. NYSERDA is updating terminology and the program name to better describe the market-rate evaluation and recommendations as a Residential Energy Assessment.  Throughout the documentation, Excel™ tool, and customer report, the term Assessment replaces the word Audit. 

Training Materials, Webinars and Office Hours 

NYSERDA has updated the User Guide for the Energy Assessment Tool to reflect these changes.  

NYSERDA is hosting webinars about this update and online office hours to answer questions you may have.  Once-monthly webinars will also be hosted to provide new user training for auditors or energy advisors new to the program or this tool.  Use the links below to access the webinars and office hours.  Registration is not required. 

August 2022 Release Webinar Focus:  Changes in this release of REA tool Webinar Link (All webinars use the same link)
Wednesday, August 31, 2022       3:00 to 4:00pm WebEx: https://nyserdany.webex.com/meet/keith.bohling   
Audio only: Call                   (415) 655-0003   Access code    924 360 023 
Friday, September 2, 2022            9:00 to 10:00am 
Tuesday, September 27, 2022      3:30 to 4:30pm      
Friday, October 28, 2022              1:00 to 2:00pm
Office Hours (Open Q&A) and New User Training Link  (All events use the same link) 
Online Office Hours (open for Q&A): Thursday, September 8, 2022         3:00 to 4:00pmWebEx: https://nyserdany.webex.com/meet/keith.bohling   Audio only: Call  (415)655-003Access code  924 360 023
Online Office Hours (open for Q&A): Wednesday, October 5, 2022          8:30 to 9:30am
New User Training: Tuesday, September 20, 2022         8:30 to 10:00am
New User Training:Thursday, October 20, 2022           10:30 to 12:00pm

Reminders 

  • The Residential Energy Assessment tool requires complete data entry on the Data Collection tab in order to make accurate modeling calculations.  If messages display or the results on the Summary Report aren’t what is expected, review yellow existing condition fields on the Data Collection tab.  Ensure that all fields are filled in and the entries are accurate. 
  • For the best experience, it is important to use the latest version of the tool directly from https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Become-a-Contractor/Become-a-Participating-Auditor and keep Microsoft Excel updated.   

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]