CT Clean Energy Corps

I was making some lighting follow-up calls the other day and got a hold of a man whose lighting visit I had recently gone on. He was a super nice guy. When I asked him if he was happy with the light bulbs we installed for him, he said that they hummed. I apologized and he asked, "do you know why light bulbs hum?" Thinking that he had actually asked me this question, I replied, "uh... no, actually, I don't." "Because they don't know the words".

And! We had our first Wethersfield public access show!

This month was a very exciting month for Ridgefield. Our team had a goal of getting 100 Home Energy Solutions sign-ups for this quarter, and about 2 weeks ago we surpassed this goal for the town of Ridgefield! We even got additional sign ups for our free lighting visit, although we don’t actively promote the lighting program in the Fairfield county area. This accomplishment makes me proud of all the work that we are doing, and shows me that people in this community actually do care about their energy waste and the current state of the environment

A big reason we were able to reach our numbers, was we attended a referendum vote earlier this month. Jess and I tabled in the morning and were able to get 54 HES sign-ups. Kevin and Bijal were very kind and offered to table for the night sessions and racked up an additional 14 HES sign-ups. This event was the most successful tabling event that I have had in Ridgefield since I started working in the town. The day started off very rainy and I was not sure it was going to be a big success. However, the clouds went away and at around 9 am our luck turned right around. Many homeowners who had completed HES already actually stopped and told their neighbors about their experiences. This was the best part of the whole day for me, because after all we are the “Neighbor to Neighbor” Energy Challenge.

Although Neighbor to Neighbor has been an emotional roller coaster, as I am sure most pilot programs are, we are beginning to see the fruits of our labor. In the past year 5,400 people have signed up for the program over 14 towns. More than 350 people have taken the second action in the challenge and participated in our free lighting program. During this action the Clean Energy Corps changes up to 25 light bulbs for more efficient CFL's. This has led to nearly $40,000 in avoided energy costs. 1,545 people have taken the second action and have had a Home Energy Solutions visit. This involves two contractors coming into your home for up to fours hours assessing areas where you can improve home efficiency and performing those on the spot. Our customers heating with oil are seeing nearly $400 in annual savings from those visits! As a program we have also had 116 upgrades that are predominantly insulation jobs. All in all Neighbor to Neighbor has saved CT residents over $630,000!

It has been a very mild winter here in Connecticut, which worries me, but means we get to start our canvassing season early. We have already had 2 evenings going door-to-door spreading awareness about Neighbor to Neighbor and state programs in one of the towns I work in; both of which were very successful. When these new participants complete the energy-saving programs they signed up for, that will mean that 25% of that one neighborhood will be saving approximately $11,400 on their energy bills at home. Pretty cool, huh?

I'm really excited for the upcoming canvasses we have, because when you go through several sign up pages in just a few hours and tally up the stats, you can see that we are really making a difference through our program.

One of the best things about doing a year of service with SCA, is as a corps we are able to actually volunteer at organizations outside of our workplace. This month the corps and one of our clean water organizers Jess all got to volunteer one Friday morning at the Food Bank.

Here is what everyone had to say about their experience:

Kate: Even though I am a vegetarian, along with so many people in the office and we had to sort through meat, the day was filled with laughter, teamwork, and that elated feeling you get when you know you are really helping people. It was great to see how much work the Food Bank actually does: they sort food, have a store in the building that people can shop at, and have a large warehouse for larger group to pick up what they need. I really enjoyed my time and can’t wait to volunteer there again.

Jeff: What I found really interesting at the food bank is that they were running a backpack program in which they provided "at risk" kids with food once a week. I had previously worked on this same program in my hometown in VA. My father helped create a chapter for our church and the program has been running strong for 2 years. I spoke with Jessica who runs the CT chapter and hopefully her and my father will link up to talk about lessons learned and ways to help more children.

Chamae: Most people will agree that the Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge is an involved program with a lot of moving parts. The assembly line set-up at the food bank was a nice change of pace from our office. I felt like we were making a notable contribution without having to think too much and our pre-existing team dynamic made it easy for us to work efficiently and get a lot done during our time there.

Erin: We labeled and sorted a whole bunch of frozen meat products and sorted candy and bathroom products. It was pretty great.

Bijal: I had a great time volunteering at the Food Bank with our team and our coordinator, Craig. I previously had no idea how much work goes into organizing and labeling donated food products! Well... if work is dancing around to pop music and throwing meat products into cardboard boxes. We also got to taste candy..which is my dream job!

Kayla: I loved the hands-on service work aspect of it. We carried heavy slabs of meat, threw candy around, and put things into boxes. At the end of the day we could see that we had made hundreds of boxes and thousands of pounds of difference. Plus, I totally got my workout in for the day!

Jenna: One highlight of volunteering at the Food Bank was Craig, our fearless coordinator and overseer-of-haphazard-tossing-of-frozen-ham-hocks. He injected what could have been a monotonous chore with humor and energy, and I was inspired by his ability to distribute tasks efficiently and deliver clear directions without sacrificing the potential to enjoy ourselves. Having fun can be a big productivity booster when you stay focused, and we had a great time while accomplishing a lot in the few hours we were there. Striking this balance can be difficult, but it's something I'd like to bring back to the office and try to consciously implement in our sometimes monotonous and frequently stressful daily routine.

Stacy: We spend a lot of time in different communities throughout Connecticut but we rarely get out of the office as a team. It was great to work on a project as a group for an organization that's doing such good work for their community. I had a great time and it was a nice change of pace to contribute to a good cause outside of our usual energy conservation (even if all the vegetarians had to sort frozen meat). I can't wait for our next volunteer opportunity!

Kevin: The Food Bank outing that we partook in February was an amazing experience that really highlighted the amount of work that is actually done in a Food Bank. It was very rewarding to be able to see the effect that we had on people who had no way of obtaining food for themselves. It is important in our program to participate in outreach events beyond the scope of our program and give back to the community in which we live in; by helping those in need, such as those at the FoodBank.

-The CT Clean Energy Corps (Kate, Stacy, Kevin, Erin, Chamae, Bijal, Jeff, Kayla, and Jenna)

This month started out kind of slow and has gradually become more and more hectic.

I had a workshop in Weston at the beginning of the month, which had been keeping me busy, and despite the poor attendance it was still a relatively successful event. Everybody that attended signed up for HES and Lighting except for one guy who left before the presentation was over. Now we're beginning to plan our next workshop, which is a Home Energy Solutions Income Eligible (HES-IE) program at the Senior Center in the middle of March.

Last week I gave a presentation to the Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce. It was pretty great! I handed out a mid-term report for the program that I had spent literally days creating and the council seemed really receptive. I've gotten emails from a few of them asking about how they can get more involved and spread the word to the rest of the town. Jess and I have begun our business strategy. We reached out to many local business owners at a Business After Hours (BAH) event that was hosted by the Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce last week. We had a lot of really great response and we're looking forward to a successful campaign. Now we just have to stop getting waylaid by random customers and weather events and get to business (heh heh)!

Today was another service day with the Hartford Habitat for Humanity. It was pretty great except that we closed up shop early due to the weather. I'm sure there is more to come in a group post about this.

Two representatives from the Department of Energy paid a visit to the office last week. I sat in on one meeting to explain everything that happens in the technological ether between a participant sign-up and a Home Energy Solutions visit - the “value added” we bring to help manage a program and a process that already existed. Although our process is by no means perfect, walking through it step by step reminded me how far we’d come and how much trial and error lies behind every logical step we now take. They ended their visit with a short PowerPoint on “lessons learned” from our program and the other grantees they’re responsible for overseeing – and Connecticut was cited for a sizable number of success stories. True, a lot of what we do is trial and error, but that in itself is a big part of our goal. It’s nice to be reminded of all the things we’ve learned from our mistakes, and to see that our learnings are being captured in a meaningful way that will help similar programs succeed.

To learn more about the innovative ways all the grant programs are promoting energy efficiency, visit the Better Buildings Neighborhood Program website.

Some people work because they need a way to pay the bills. They hate what they do, but they see it as a means to an end. They live for weekends.

I too, live for weekends. However, instead of them being a respite from the drudgery of the workweek, I live for weekends because the most gratifying part of my job as a community organizer comes from attending weekend events. Being present at Andy Bauer’s Solar and Geothermal Open House on February 11th was reinvigorating and inspiring, illuminating the joy of working with passionate volunteers to help effect meaningful change in their communities.

Andy Bauer’s claim to fame is that he no longer needs the oil company to make delivery stops at his house. On Saturday, around 70 friends, neighbors and fellow teachers from Portland, East Hampton, Glastonbury, and Lebanon passed through his home as he proudly showed them the geothermal system that has replaced his dying oil burner. Couple this with the solar panels you see lining his south-facing roof and you get the impression that Andy might have a passion for cool gadgets that don’t use fossil fuels. Talk to Andy for more than a minute and this inkling will be confirmed; he is a staunch advocate of reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

People get excited about solar and geothermal because it is flashy– you can invite all of your friends and neighbors over and display your bragging rights. Do you think Andy would have gotten 70 people to show up to his house if he called it an Insulation House-Warming Party? Coupling weatherization with renewables though we were able to stress that insulation is sexy too; just because you shouldn’t roll around in your fiberglass for hours doesn’t mean it won’t do you a world of good. By properly air-sealing and insulating his house before installing his geothermal unit, Andy was able to decrease his demand for a 3-ton system down to a 2-ton system. That is a huge decrease in installation cost with a major takeaway message of the day –decrease your energy needs by tightening up your home to save thousands if you are considering renewable energy.

The best part about the day was the energy of people together, passionate about reducing their energy use. Friends were asking great clarifying questions and becoming empowered to address their own energy issues. Seeing what a success the day was, Lou Pear on the Task Force turned to me and said, “I can do this. I can have a house party. I don’t have geothermal, but I do have solar panels. I’ve added insulation to my house.”

Andy too was pumped from the positive response. “I should send out an email to all of the task forces in the state and encourage them to have house parties! Grassroots organizing, people talking to their friends and neighbors, is a very effective way to get people to reduce their energy use. If you get something in the mail from the utility company, you are just going to throw it away. The same way you tell your friends what movies they should see, we should be sharing our stories about what works in our homes. You want information from people you trust.”

We think the elderly need some love,
They get free energy assessments,
A free fridge, but not stove,
Your bill could use some dents,
I proclaimed! The seniors, in front of.

-Kayla