On August 3, an email blast was distributed to the approx. 11,500 subscribers of LightNOW inviting them to take a spot survey in which they would be asked to report data about their awareness and use of the tax incentives related to lighting.
After the mailing, 356 subscribers responded. Respondents were first qualified to those who own/manage, recommend, approve, specify, design, install or maintain lighting for commercial buildings in the United States. Manufacturers, sales representatives, educators, students and other industry participants were disqualified. This produced a sample of 272.
This sample was further refined in two ways. First, only those respondents who are aware that the Commercial Buildings Deduction exists were qualified to take the survey. Second, only those respondents who have or whose firm has, over the past two years, completed a project for which the Deduction was obtained from the following list: retrofit (lighting upgrade), new construction/renovation, and retrofit AND new construction/renovation.
For this portion of the study, the responses were filtered to isolate those respondents answering “retrofit (lighting upgrade).” This population, called “retrofit market,” yielded 35 respondents, a statistically valid sample. In contrast, a similar effort to isolate respondents who have completed new construction/renovation projects did not produce a large enough sample for statistical accuracy, which is itself suggestive.
The survey results are statistically projectable, within a reasonable margin of error, to reflect the behavior and opinions of the parent population, which is the LightNOW list (it is therefore suggestive, but not reflective, of the universe of all lighting retrofit practitioners). This means that some bias may be present: For example, LightNOW reaches the segment of the market prequalified as interested in lighting enough to subscribe to a newsletter.
RETROFIT MARKET EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• A majority of respondents (77%) are aware that the Commercial Buildings Deduction has been extended to 2013.
• The average respondent reports being “somewhat knowledgeable” about the Commercial Buildings Deduction overall and the Interim Lighting Rule and the Permanent Rule specifically.
• Nearly four out of 10 respondents (37%) do not know whether their qualifying projects applied for the Commercial Buildings Deduction using the Interim Lighting Rule, Permanent Rule or both. More than four out of 10 (43%) report that the Deduction has been applied for their projects using the Interim Lighting Rule.
• The average (weighted) respondent qualified for and obtained the Commercial Buildings Deduction on about 44% of projects in 2008.
• Lack of awareness or interest by the owner is the highest-ranked reason (45%) respondents have not applied the Commercial Buildings Deduction to more projects.
• Other significant reasons include difficulty in applying bilevel switching to existing buildings (31%) and proposing projects including a specific benefit because the respondent doesn’t know their client’s tax rate (31%).
• Nearly nine out of 10 respondents (86%) do not cite “cannot find options to produce the required energy savings,” suggesting that the retrofit community regards the lighting industry as providing suitable solutions.
Next question: Approximately what percentage of you firm’s overall projects qualified and applied for the Commercial Buildings Deduction last year? (If you are a building owner/facility manager, leave this answer blank.)
The average (weighted) respondent qualified for and obtained the Commercial Buildings Deduction on 43.6% of projects last year.
OTHER RESPONSES (OPEN-ENDED):
“Even though the energy savings and tax deduction are good some clients are cash poor right now.”
“Not dealing with the building owner. Lighting project and electric bills are paid by tenants not owners.”
“Much of the decision to pursue lies with the tax accountant, so it’s not always motivating to the decision maker.”
“Does not apply, or we are not aware of how the products are being used.”
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