Low-income weatherization programs evolved significantly during the last decade.
Many programs focused on improving delivery systems and increasing the level of
technical sophistication as ways of enhancing performance. Government and utility
programs struggled with how to deliver effective services that provided significant-and
cost-effective energy savings.

Several questions regarding the performance of weatherization programs remain:
what energy savings are these programs providing, how cost-effective are they, and
what is the potential for energy savings and cost-effectiveness? This paper discusses
these questions by reviewing twelve evaluations of eleven low-income weatherization
programs conducted in the Midwest between 1982 and 1988. The studies include both
utility and government programs.The evaluations either measured the effect of
improved program delivery systems (including the installation of more effective
energy conservation measures), or discussed how the impact or cost-effectiveness of
the existing program might be increased.

This paper focuses on time trends in energy savings and cost-effectiveness associated
with the weatherization programs, and the near-term potential for future increases
in average energy savings and program cost-effectiveness.