Women Who Exit Interview
Felena Hanson “virtually” sat down with Jane S. Peters, to discuss the sale of her business, Research Into Action, in Portland, Oregon.
Dr. Jane S. Peters has nearly 35 years of experience in energy-related program performance measurement and evaluation, customer research, market assessment, strategic planning, organizational analysis, and process re-engineering. Jane is a recognized energy services industry leader in program process and performance measurement and program evaluation research and training. She is well-known for her qualitative research, including process and market evaluations, focus group moderation, and quantitative assessment of behavioral and indirect impacts. She has conducted research on all types of programs: residential and nonresidential demand response, industrial, commercial and institutional, residential/low-income, agricultural, research and development, end-use renewables, and distributed generation. As an environmental psychologist, she is particularly interested in determining how best to design and implement programs that spur individuals and organizations to change their energy usage and other behaviors to reduce the effects of climate change.
Jane recently coauthored the California EM&V Framework Refresh Needs Assessment, which identified ways to improve the Framework’s usefulness and usability and ensure it aligns with and continues to meet evaluation needs as the state’s clean energy policies and landscape evolve. She was a member of the team that developed the 2006 Evaluation Protocols for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); was the lead author of its chapter on Market Effects Evaluation, and a contributor to the protocols for indirect impacts and for process evaluation. She authored three books on evaluation for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and numerous other publications.
Jane is a member of the Evaluation, Measurement, and Verification (EM&V) training team for the Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP). She has conducted training as part of the International Energy Program Evaluation Conference; the Behavior Energy and Climate Change (BECC) Conference; and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Market Transformation Conference. She regularly presents research papers at national conferences and hearings. In 2013, the International Energy Program Evaluation Conference (IEPEC) recognized her contributions to the industry by presenting her its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jane earned her Ph.D. in urban studies from Portland State University and received an A.B. with distinction in psychology from Occidental College.
