Create a community awards program for energy efficiency
Give public recognition to businesses that document individual energy-saving improvements.
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Erica Mooney commented
Lisa, love the neighborhood ideas and house monitors! In the meeting, we talked about creating a program to incentivize efficiency improvements by landlords for rental properties. Ann Arbor has just started their "PACE" program (Property Assessed Clean Energy) which has some great ideas involved: http://www.annarbor.com/news/student-rental-houses-could-benefit-from-energy-efficiency-upgrades-under-ann-arbors-new-pace-progra/
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Bonnie Wessler commented
Lisa, regarding wattage meters- the Ypsi Library has them available to check out. Perhaps a first step would be to encourage/promote this program more widely.
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Lisa Marshall Bashert commented
Alternatively, have a block captain on every block with a wattage meter that can be borrowed. Like a Neighborhood Watch that helps us all be safer, a Green Neighbor could help us all be more sustainable -- could store shared tools, lend out wattage meters, help install rain barrels, advise about compost, etc... Just thinking out loud.
I think probably you're right, Valerie, that a residential award system might be different from a business award. And I also think it would be fun for neighborhood associations to compete.
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Lisa Marshall Bashert commented
I was thinking that a great prize with an extra "value added" aspect would be to award household wattage monitors. Anecdotally, I have heard that having a wattage meter in your house just naturally leads to more conservation as people realize how much energy certain appliances consume. Not sure about how these work, but I think people would want to win one.
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AdminValerie Bieberich (Admin, Michigan Suburbs Alliance: Climate Action Planning Homepage) commented
Lisa, I like the idea of doing this across sectors and types of organizations. Should the standards or awards be different for different types of groups?
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Lisa Marshall Bashert commented
Couldn't we also do this for neighborhood associations?