NESEA chooses EnergySage to host virtual Green Buildings Open House Tour

CAMBRIDGE / GREENFIELD, MA – July 31, 2012

EnergySage (www.EnergySage.com), the leading consumer education website for clean energy systems such as solar, wind, and geothermal, was chosen by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) to host the virtual component of the organization’s Green Buildings Open House (GBOH) program. The virtual tour, which is comprised of over 1,000 property profiles supports NESEA’s Green Buildings Open House program (GBOH). The GBOH tour allows participants to visit host sites to see firsthand the renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements implemented in their communities. In 2011, more than 10,000 people toured 504 GBOH host sites throughout the Northeast, including homes, businesses, and public buildings.

“We are delighted to partner with NESEA on its virtual Green Buildings Open House tour,” said Vikram Aggarwal, CEO of EnergySage. “EnergySage’s research shows that a lack of clear understanding of clean energy technologies and their economics is a major stumbling block to consumer purchases. The tour provides the information and transparency needed to remove these barriers and bring clean energy into the mainstream.”

The virtual complement to NESEA’s GBOH tour provides visitors and hosts with new, enhanced features and additional opportunities to discover and be discovered. The property profiles featured on EnergySage.com (https://www.energysage.com/project-search/) give each host the opportunity to share detailed information, advice and experience online with potential visitors as well as those unable to physically visit the sites. Online visitors and tour participants learn what motivated the host to invest in energy efficiency and clean energy systems such as solar, wind, geothermal, what advice he or she might have for others considering similar energy investments, as well as the costs and results achieved both in energy savings and financial returns. Because the tour is fully integrated with the comprehensive suite of resources available on the EnergySage web site, GBOH listings now are linked directly to additional information such as brand and vendor profiles and reviews, explanations of the full range of clean energy technologies and applications, automated tools to determine appropriate technologies for specific properties, and help with executing a purchase.

“In partnering with EnergySage, we hope to provide participants with a deeper, more robust experience as they tour this year’s projects,” said Jenifer Marrapese, Executive Director of NESEA. “Our mission to drive broader adoption of energy efficiency and sustainability is directly aligned with that of EnergySage. As consumers learn from their peers who have successfully implemented renewable solutions, and become more familiar with these technologies, they are more likely to start using them themselves.”

For NESEA’s member network of sustainable energy and sustainable building professionals, the virtual tour is a valuable marketing vehicle for extending brand recognition and increasing a potential consumer's awareness of their experience and capabilities. Through these customer testimonials, consumers will be able to see the actual results of NESEA members’ work in action. These case studies showcase examples of energy efficiency and clean energy installations across a broad range of applications, property types and geographies, giving consumers confidence to take action for their own properties.

As a member of NESEA, EnergySage is committed to making clean energy more accessible to consumers. “We believe that evaluating and investing in clean energy systems should be as easy as buying any other home appliance,” continues Aggarwal. The property profiles within the company’s peer to peer community as well as its comprehensive suite of educational and analytical tools, provide consumers with the knowledge needed to make confident clean energy system purchases. In June, the company announced that it received a Department of Energy SunShot Startup Investment to develop and implement additional functionality to its current web offering. In late 2012 it will launch a web-based solar photovoltaic (PV) comparison-shopping platform. Aggarwal expects that the EnergySage platform will do for the solar PV market what LendingTree has done for the mortgage market.

Current clean energy system owners that wish to share their experience and expertise with others can create profiles of their clean energy installations and energy efficiency improvements at: https://www.energysage.com/share-your-experience/.

About NESEA

Founded in 1974, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) is today the region’s leading membership organization promoting sustainable energy practices in the built environment. NESEA’s overarching goal is to create, support, and inspire a multidisciplinary network of building and energy professionals who are guided by whole systems thinking to promote the development of superefficient building techniques, to make such techniques the standard, and to help bring clean, renewable energy into everyday use. Our growing membership comprises architects, engineers, educators, builders, energy consultants, renewable energy manufacturers and installers, policy makers, facilities managers, planners, and students.

Contact: Travis Niles
Manager of Communications
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association
413-774-6051, ext. 21

About EnergySage, Inc.

EnergySage provides the first comprehensive online marketplace for consumers and businesses interested in converting to solar energy. By enabling people to comparison shop for “apples-to-apples” competitive quotes from pre-screened installers and financiers, the EnergySage Marketplace typically delivers cost-savings of up to 20 percent when compared to going directly to installers. EnergySage also simplifies today’s complex solar industry by providing tools and unbiased information that enable people to fully understand their product and financing options as well as their return-on-investment scenarios. Many leading organizations have forged partnerships with EnergySage to promote the adoption of solar energy, including Connecticut Green Bank, Staples, Walgreens and the World Wildlife Fund. For more information, please visit: www.energysage.com.