WAP 1989 EVALUATION

In 1990, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored a comprehensive evaluation of its Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), the nation’s largest residential energy conservation program. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) managed the evaluation, which was based mainly on data collected from the 1989 Program Year (PY) and supplemented by data from 1991-1992.

The evaluation concluded that the Program was meeting the objective of its enabling legislation and fulfilling its mission statement. Specifically, the Program was found to save energy, lower fuel bills, and improve the health and safety of dwellings occupied by low-income people. In addition, the evaluation demonstrated that the Program was achieving its mission in a cost-effective manner. The evaluation estimated that the investments made in 1989 would, over a 20-year lifetime, save the equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil, roughly the amount of oil added to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in each of the years in the early 1990s.

A total of 12 reports document the overall evaluation and the various studies that comprised the evaluation. Materials are also available that summarize the reports, the data collected under the evaluation, and the data collection surveys used by the various studies.

• Summary of Final Reports
• Data Collection Summary by Organization Impacted
• Summary List of Data Collection Surveys
• Data Collection Surveys
• Abstracts of Final Reports (7 of the 12 reports)

Final Reports:

1. Weatherization Works: Final Report of the National Weatherization Evaluation (ORNL/CON-395)
2. Weatherization Works: An Interim Report of the National Weatherization Evaluation (ORNL/CON-373)
3. Scope of the Weatherization Assistance Program: The Weatherized Population and the Resource Base (ORNL/CON-325)
4. The Scope of the Weatherization Assistance Program: Profile of the Population in Need (ORNL/SUB/92-SK904/V2)
5. Utility Investments in Low-Income Energy Efficiency Programs (ORNL/CON-379)
6. Characterization of the Weatherization Assistance Program Network (ORNL/CON-324)
7. National Impacts of the Weatherization Assistance Program in Single-Family and Small Multifamily Dwellings (ORNL/CON-326)
8. Patterns of Impact in the Weatherization Assistance Program: A Closer Look (ORNL/CON-331)
9. Keys to Success: Ten Case Studies of Effective Weatherization Programs (ORNL/CON-328)
10. Impacts of the Weatherization Assistance Program in Fuel-Oil Heated Houses  (ORNL/CON-327)
11. Description of the Weatherization Assistance Program in Larger Multifamily Buildings for Program Year 1989 (ORNL/CON-329)
12. Five Case Studies of Multifamily Weatherization Programs (ORNL/CON-434)