EERE Evaluation Resource Documents
This page lists evaluation guides and resource documents developed for EERE staff. These resources could also be used by non-EERE persons interested in improving the practice of evaluation in their organizations.
The following documents are presented in PDF format. Download Adobe Reader.
(1) Impact Evaluation Framework for Technology Deployment Programs: An approach for quantifying retrospective energy savings, clean energy advances, and market effects. (PDF 4.4 MB) 2007. (Main Report). Prepared by: John H. Reed (Innovologie LLC), Gretchen Jordan (Sandia National Laboratories) and Edward Vine (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory).
Description: This document describes a framework for evaluating the retrospective impact of technology deployment programs. Program managers and evaluators in Federal, state, and local governments and in public entities and institutions are increasingly accountable for delivering and demonstrating results of their programs. The impact framework assists program managers and evaluators to develop and implement better and more cost effective evaluations. The seven step process, the generic templates, the generic evaluation questions, and the evaluation designs that make up the framework can be used to develop powerful and meaningful impact evaluations to refine programs, increase program effectiveness, make the tough decisions to drop ineffective program elements, and to develop credible evidence that communicates the value of the program to stakeholders. An important focus of the framework is increasing understanding of the linkages between program outputs and short term and long term outcomes (impacts). It simplifies and enriches the process of describing and developing measures of target audience response to program outputs, designing sound evaluations, and taking credit for all of effects that are attributable to the program. Created for the US Department of Energy's (US DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the framework can be applied to most deployment programs in a broad array of disciplines.
(2) Impact Evaluation Framework for Technology Deployment Programs: An approach for quantifying retrospective energy savings, clean energy advances, and market effects. (An Overview and Example). (PDF 1.0 MB) 2007. Prepared by: John H. Reed (Innovologie LLC), Gretchen Jordan (Sandia National Laboratories) and Edward Vine (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory).
Description: A twelve page overview and an application example for the larger report "Impact Evaluation Framework for Technology Deployment Programs: An approach for quantifying retrospective energy savings, clean energy advances, and market effects.
(3) Overview of Evaluation Methods for R&D Programs (PDF 2.9 MB). 2007. Prepared by: Rosalie Ruegg and Gretchen Jordan. Washington DC: US Department of Energy. This booklet introduces managers to a variety of methods for evaluating R&D programs.
(4) EERE Guide for Managing General Program Evaluation Studies. (PDF 1.6 MB) 2006. Prepared by: Harley Barnes and Gretchen Jordan. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy. This Guide focuses on the management and use of general program evaluation studies performed by outside experts and contractors. In addition to outcome and impact evaluation, the guide addresses process, cost-benefit evaluation, and market assessment evaluation.
(5) EERE Peer Review Guide (PDF 1.6 MB). 2004. Prepared by: Sam Baldwin, Jim Daley, Jeff Dowd, David Howell, John Ryan, Alan Schroeder, Frank Wilkins, and Gretchen Jordan. Washington DC: US Department of Energy. The peer review guide describes steps to plan, design, and implement external peer reviews.
(6) A Proposed Methodology to Determine the Leverage Impacts of Technology Deployment Programs (PDF 1.2 MB). 2008. Prepared by James L. Wolf for U.S. Department of Energy, Washington DC.
(7) "Value of Program Evaluation" Case Study Series: Sponsored by DOE
- Introduction to the "Value of Program Evaluation" Case Study Series
- "DOE Hydrogen Program Saved Nearly $30 Million by Investing in Annual In-Progress Peer Reviews" (USDOE, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy)
- "Evaluation Helps Program Increase Sales of Energy Saving Light Bulbs Among Women" (ENERGY STAR Products Program, Wisconsin Focus on Energy)
- "Evaluation Helps Pesticide Program Finish Project Four Years Sooner Than Expected" (Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. EPA)
- "Evaluation Prompts ENERGY STAR Program to Replace Web Tool, Saving 90 percent of Annual Costs" (ENERGY STAR Residential Program, U.S. EPA)
- "Program Streamlines Process, Increases Customer Satisfaction After Implementing Evaluation Recommendations" (Empower Programs, Hydro-Québec)
(8) Stage Gate Review:
- Industrial Technologies Program's Stage-Gate Innovation Management Guidelines (PDF 813 KB). 2007. Prepared by The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
- Stage Gate Management in the Biomass Program (PDF 285 KB). 2005. Revision 2. Prepared by The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
[Note: The Stage Gate guidance documents were prepared by NREL for the EERE Industrial Technologies Program and Biomass Program Offices (sponsors).]