CT Clean Energy Corps

One new thing that started this month is we are having career talks during our lunch hour every Friday. It is great to hear other environmentalist's life stories and how they got into the position they are in today. So far we have had two community organizers and Bryan Garcia, who actually helped write the Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge Grant! It gives me hope in today's economy that I will be able to find my way and continue on a job path that will help to better the environment

On Saturday, Neighbor to Neighbor tabled at the first Mini Maker Faire in CT. It was an amazing event! Makers from all over the state came to Westport to display their creations and crafts (including a submarine, garbage bots, and a lapstrake canoe). We taught kids how to reuse toilet paper rolls and incandescent bulbs as seed starters. Check out this slideshow of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hqlHrT9V64. Our lighting box makes an appearance!

- Bijal

This month in Windham we have increased our canvassing efforts. We have noticed a jump in the standings as well. Windham has climbed from 12th to 10th and continues to rise.

I am hosting my first canvass in Cheshire tonight, and pending success, we will implement a similiar strategy as Windham's. Other events that I have participated in include Career Day a presentation to the Cheshire Environmental Team, Cheshire Home Show, Cheshire Puppet Show, and a small scale workshop for the 1st Congreational Church in Windham.

On Portland local access show (Portland on the Move) we highlighted something made very attractive by NOT being on the Move: solar panels. As the solar installer explained at our Earth Day Solar Open House, solar panels require very little maintenance once installed because they have no moving parts.

Another fun fact I learned from our Open House: during a good day, solar panels generate up to twice as much electricity as you will use that day. This excess electricity is put back onto the grid and you are credited for your surplus thanks to net metering. You are able to redeem those credits on days when there is not as much sunshine dollar for dollar.

However, you do not want to install a system that will generate way more electricity than your demands. At the end of the fiscal year, if you have produced more electricity than you have used annually, you will only be paid a fraction of the value for your excess electricity. So you want to make sure your home is energy efficient so you minimize your energy demands, THEN invest in renewable energy.

Also, the burden of high upfront cost associated with solar has been overcome by the ability to lease solar panels with no down payment. Instead of paying your electricity bill, you pay the solar lease on your panels, which should be lower than if you were to stay with your current utility company. You don't pay the upfront cost and you have the satisfaction of supporting clean generation of electricity. Now THAT's a way to celebrate Earth Day!

~Chamae

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)