B.1 SURVEY OBJECTIVES, KEY VARIABLES AND OTHER PRELIMINARIES

B.1.a SURVEY OBJECTIVES

Generally, the objectives of the surveys that will evaluate the ENERGY STAR Labeling Program are (1) to ascertain the effectiveness of program's market interventions, (2) to determine whether the labeling strategy and market interventions have led or will lead to market transformation for selected product categories, and (3) to assess the overall efficacy of the labeling strategy and awareness campaign.

Specific objectives for surveys addressed in Part B of this ICR include:

For the HVAC Contractor Surveys, the objectives are to assess awareness of ENERGY STAR models among contractors who participated in ENERGY STAR training programs and those who did not, estimate market penetration of ENERGY STAR models among both groups, and assess prevalence of selling practices to promote efficient equipment.

For the Commercial Office Equipment Managers Surveys, the objectives are to assess awareness, understanding, and implementation levels of ENERGY STAR models among commercial purchasers of computer systems and imaging equipment.

For the ENERGY STAR Household Survey, the objectives are to assess consumer recognition, understanding, and use of the ENERGY STAR label in purchasing decisions.

In the surveys, the respondents will provide information used to assess the efficacy of EPA's ENERGY STAR labeling initiatives. Specifically, the respondents will provide data about their job responsibilities, familiarity with the ENERGY STAR label, and permanent behavioral indicators of market transformation effects such as whether their company has adopted energy-efficient purchasing policies.

EPA will use the information from the surveys to assess the overall effectiveness of its ENERGY STAR labeling program. Gaining objective and critical insights into the program's measurable effects will enable the Agency to measure its successes, refine its program, efficiently target its limited resources, and better communicate information to program stakeholders.

B.1.b KEY VARIABLES

The surveys have been designed to evaluate whether long lasting market transformation effects that can be linked to specific market intervention activities associated with the ENERGY STAR labeling program have occurred. In general, market transformation initiatives involve one or more of the following:

Introduction of a new technology, service, or behavior into the market.

Advancement of an existing technology, service, or behavior, so that it becomes more widespread.

Removal or decreased use of an inefficient technology, service, or behavior.

Acceleration of the rate of technological improvement and/or cost reduction.

EPA shall operationalize its research on market transformation effects by asking focused questions that allow measurement of this broad concept. For example, EPA will evaluate the advancement of energy-efficient products by collecting data about perceptions of the percentage of products sold or leased that qualify for the ENERGY STAR label and how this percentage has changed over the last two years. The office equipment managers surveys will collect information on the percentage of equipment that has power management technology (e.g., 'sleep' mode for copiers) enabled and if, and how this percentage has changed over the last two years in particular market segments. For the HVAC contractors and dealers market segment, the surveys will assess the degree to which dealers and contractors are communicating information about energy-efficiency products to their customers, including information about utility cost savings or loan incentive programs.

B.1.c STATISTICAL APPROACH

EPA proposes to use a statistical survey approach for specific market segments to evaluate its ENERGY STAR labeling program. This approach minimizes burden while achieving the desired level of precision, thereby avoiding the unnecessary burden and cost associated with conducting a census of all respondent populations and market segments.

The data collections for HVAC Distributors, Residential HVAC Purchasers, and Office Equipment Vendors are not addressed in Part B because a qualitative approach was chosen. For these respondent populations, EPA is interested in collecting general data that characterize the program's effect versus collecting data within tight statistical bounds that would support extrapolation of results to the populations at large. Data collected from these sectors will help corroborate information from the statistical surveys and will provide insight into the effects the ENERGY STAR labeling program has had on the various market segments. This approach was chosen to minimize cost and burden, but still allow additional insight to be gained.

The methods of data collection—primarily telephone interviews and one brief mail survey—have been designed to minimize burden on respondents while ensuring that information necessary to satisfy survey objectives is collected in a consistent manner. The questions are ones for which a typical respondent should immediately be able to provide a response; they do not require the compilation or synthesis of data.

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EPA is designing and conducting the survey with the assistance of several contractors, as listed

To fully assess the surveys' feasibility, EPA evaluated the ease of collecting the data, the resources available to devote to the information collection effort, and the time required to collect the data. After considering each of these components, the Agency determined that all information collections are feasible. Specifically:

The survey data collection instruments have been designed with the capabilities of the typical respondent in mind. Acquiring data should not be burdensome, as the respondents will be able to provide answers immediately without having to consult records or reports. Further, the results of the pilot tests confirmed that respondents could readily provide this information. EPA believes the respondent burden of 12-15 minutes is relatively minor and respondents should be able to devote this amount of time to responding to the survey.

EPA believes it has adequate resources to collect and analyze the data the surveys will generate. In addition to Headquarters personnel, it has earmarked approximately $210,000 for contractor assistance.

EPA's collection schedule is discussed in Part A of this Supporting Statement. EPA believes this collection schedule will provide ample time to collect the data, while being sensitive to peak seasons for various market segments and the household survey moratorium associated with the 2000 Census. Further, the information will be collected in a timely manner to support meaningful program evaluation. That is, survey data will be collected such that the effects of the program over time will not impair the results of the survey.

This section contains a detailed description of the statistical survey designs including a description of the target population, sampling frame, precision requirements, data collection instrument, pretest, collection methods, and follow-up procedures. Consult Exhibit B-2-1 for a summary of many of these survey design characteristics.

B.2.a TARGET POPULATION AND COVERAGE

The target population varies for each survey group as noted in Exhibit B-2-1. Specifically, the target populations are as follows.

For the HVAC Contractor Surveys, there are two populations—one each for the participant and non-participant survey. For participant surveys, the target population is all training program participants; for non-participant surveys, the target population is all HVAC contractors located in areas where the training programs were offered but had not participated in these programs.

For the Commercial Office Equipment Managers Surveys, the target population is all commercial and industrial establishments with a significant stock of personal computers (i.e., more than 100 computers per establishment). Using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, the agricultural sector was excluded based on the assumption that this area would not contain many businesses with significant computer use.

For the ENERGY STAR Household Survey, the target population is all households in the nation's 57 largest media markets. These media markets account for over 70 percent of all households in the United States.

B.2.b SAMPLE DESIGN

This section describes the sample design. It includes a description of the sampling frame, target sample size, stratification variables, and sampling method. The sampling design employed varies by survey type. Consult Exhibit B-2-1 and Section B.2.b.iv (Sampling Method) for the specifics.

B.2.b.i Sampling Frame

The sampling frame (or set of potential respondents) is developed from different data sources depending on the survey type. Specifically,

For the HVAC Contractor Surveys, there are two frames-one each for the participant and non-participant survey. For participant surveys, the frame is the data base of training attendees maintained by EPA in its Strategic Tracking and Research (STAR) system. For the non-participant survey, the frame is a commercially available directory compiled by Dun & Bradstreet-specifically the iMarket's MarketPlace data base.