The decline in the economy, particularly in the second half of 2008, likely contributed to smaller gains in participants relative to previous years and a number of programs reported losses in the total number of participants. Perhaps surprisingly, nonresidential participant growth was on par with 2007; while the reason for this increase is unclear, one possible explanation could be heightened interest in renewable energy issues in an election year in which renewables and climate change were a focus. It is also possible that some programs placed greater emphasis on attracting commercial customers to make up for residential customer losses, as.
