Case Studies

A Market Engagement Partnership to Accelerate Change

Fidelium Consulting’s founder and principal has supported the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings program since its launch in 2011. During this time, sustainability leaders from the commercial, public, industrial, multifamily, and utility sectors joined to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and share their proven approaches. In exchange, they received recognition, technical assistance, and access to peer networking.

The program has achieved significant success, surpassing more than 1,000 organizations in 2022, and sharing more than 3,000 partner case studies and other technical resources that demonstrate how to achieve deep emissions reductions and energy savings.

Many of the lessons learned along the way can be applied to other market engagement programs. These include:

Take a step‐by‐step approach to build momentum

Ensure the program is well-organized and professionally managed, with clear and consistent messaging from the outset. While it helps to start with splash, it its more important to build momentum through an incremental process that reinforces itself through a virtuous cycle.

Create value for partners and provide excellent customer service

Market engagement programs rely on positive incentives. This is achieved by recognizing participants for their successes and connecting them to useful technical assistance and peer exchange. Programs must be agile, highly responsive, and sharply attuned to evolving needs and challenges.

Collaborate with other industry stakeholders

Creating mutually beneficial relationships with other organizations—including non‐profits, industry associations, government agencies, and research institutes—adds credibility and provides invaluable resources and communications channels.

Guard the program’s reputation by being impartial, consistent, and transparent

This entails providing an equal platform for qualified partners and program stakeholders alike. Program policies should be codified in a guide, changes or exceptions should be explainable and broadly applied. Program results and their methodologies should be made available through annual progress reporting.