EFI was incorporated May 25th, 1982 by six non-profit energy organizations with the purposes of helping those member groups and other organizations economically purchase quality conservation products and assisting the public in using energy resources efficiently. EFI's office was in downtown Framingham, Massachusetts, shared with the social service agency South Middlesex Opportunity Council. Inventory was stored in a small basement room. Initial customers consisted of EFI's member groups and low-income weatherization programs primarily funded with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Program Assistance (WAP) dollars. Bradley Steele, the Executive Director of People's Energy Resource Cooperative (PERC), one of the member organizations, was appointed President. In 1983 EFI organized its first successful coordinated bid for a state-funded weatherization program involving its six member organizations and another fifteen community action agencies, and EFI hired its first part-time employee, Janice Scoppa, in 1984. Other staff functions were performed on an in-kind basis by EFI Board members and PERC staff, including Philip Scarbro who joined PERC in 1986. Employees Bradley Steele, Janice Scoppa, and Philip Scarbro are all still with EFI today.

In 1985 some of EFI's member organizations collaborated and won a bid to operate a Department of Energy (DOE) approved Residential Conservation Service (RCS) energy audit program for Boston Edison. The audit program was unique in that it was the first RCS program in the country to include the direct installation of products in people's homes during the audit, and to provide contractor arranging for customers wishing to undertake major measures.

In 1986 EFI designed a mail order materials program service for the households that received one of these Boston Edison energy audits. The success of this mail order materials program led to it being mandated by the Massachusetts State Energy Office for all RCS audit programs in Massachusetts, and in 1988 EFI designed the first residential lighting mail order catalog program in the country, promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs and fixtures. Within 1 week, more compact fluorescent light bulbs were sold through this program than had been sold during the entire previous year of Boston Edison's energy efficient lighting program, which had been dependent retail store activity. EFI's staff grew to three part-time employees, and EFI expanded its warehouse space.

From 1988 to 1990 Bradley Steele and other members of EFI's Board of Directors were involved in regulatory proceedings that led to the adoption of least cost planning, or integrated resource management (IRM), for electric utilities in New England. This process, labeled the Collaborative Approach, and the program design that came out of it, became the model for many demand-side management (DSM) programs that have been implemented across the United States.

In 1990 and 1991 EFI was awarded numerous contracts to delivery mail order lighting programs for electric utilities in the Northeast, including New England Electric Systems, Long Island Lighting Company, and Eastern Utilities Associates. EFI's staff increased to twelve.

In 1992 EFI moved to a new facility in Natick, Massachusetts, tripling its space and bringing warehousing and shipping operations into the same building with office staff. EFI's staff grew to thirty employees, with mail order lighting programs representing about 75% of EFI's business. In 1993, EFI shipped 150,000 orders and 650,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs to mail order utility program customers.

EFI has since grown to become one of the leading residential distributors of energy efficiency-related products in the United States. Underlying EFI's mission today is the belief that a key obstacle to increased energy and water efficiency is inadequate awareness of, and access to, good quality resource conservation-related products. It is insufficient to simply recognize the benefits associated with reducing inefficient energy and water consumption - people actually need to be able to find and purchase these types of products. EFI uses multiple approaches to address this issue, through three business groups, a Consumer Division, Wholesale Division, and a Utility Programs Division.

EFI's Consumer Division serves consumers and affiliate organizations through Internet storefronts on our EnergyFederation.org domain. Our consumer Internet storefront is essentially a one-stop-shop for an increasing array of resource conservation-related products that are typically difficult to find through conventional distributors and retailers. EFI provides a high level of service to make it easy for people to purchase energy efficiency items.

EFI's Wholesale Division distributes light fixtures, air sealing materials, and ventilation systems to contractors, builders, facilities, weatherization agencies, and other types of companies. Many of these contractors build ENERGY STAR homes, and EFI's staff have the expertise to know which items qualify for use in those homes, and how to insure that tight, energy efficient homes maintain good indoor air quality. EFI belongs to a number of trade associations, including Energy Efficiency Builders Association (EEBA).

EFI's Utility Programs Division works with numerous utility companies who wish to take advantage of EFI's expertise to develop innovative turnkey opportunities to make energy efficient products available to their customers. EFI provides merchandising, call center support, inventory management, data processing, order processing, and rebate processing services. Through these collaborative undertakings with utility companies and other clients EFI ships hundreds of thousands of energy efficient products to tens of thousands of residential end-users every year, and processes millions of dollars worth of rebate reimbursements checks on behalf of our clients utility companies to manufacturers, retailers, consumers related to the purchase of qualifying energy efficient technologies.

At EFI we believe that increased energy efficiency and energy conservation do not necessarily require sacrifices in people's quality of life. Indeed, more efficient products often perform better than conventional products, in that they last longer, as well as save people money through lower utility bills. In addition, more efficient use of energy means reduced need to construct additional power plants, reduced atmospheric emission of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global climate change, reduced emission of sulfur dioxide and gasses that contribute to regional air pollution and acid rain, reduced dependence on fossil fuels, and the obvious economic benefits that follow from the resulting increased savings, investment, and consumer spending.