Local Governments for Sustainability, an international organization, reports that 407 cities and towns in the United States and Canada have filed climate action plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Neighborhood groups focused on the environment are springing up around the country, often growing out of preexisting religious and neighborhood organizations. Even where the activism isn’t vocal, a recent MIT study showed that almost three-quarters of the public is concerned about global warming.

How can efficiency programs reach out to these groups and leverage their networks to tilt community norms towards efficiency? Some efficiency programs are doing just that. At the CEE-ACEEE Market Transformation Symposium in early April, two CEE members, Efficiency Vermont and NStar reported on their efforts.

Vermont

Church Street Marketplace Burlington, Vermont

Blair Hamilton of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) described the approach taken by Efficiency Vermont (EVT), the state efficiency utility. He described a state dotted with cities and small towns, citizens who were expressing widespread opposition to new generation, including wind power, and individuals and groups who were expressing commitments to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions. How could Vermont Energy bridge the gap between what they were offering and the consumers who wanted their services?

Initially, EVT reached out to Vermont Climate Action Network (VCAN) and Vermont Campus Energy Group (VCEG), two active, focused, statewide associations. In addition, many towns in Vermont have town energy committees or coordinators who could work with EVT. EVT also explored the types of actions towns were already taking on their own: audits of municipal buildings and households, streetlight retrofits, school projects, and community education and awareness events.

Based on their research, EVT decided to move forward with leveraging community interest and resources to multiply the effect of their actions and create a sense of community ownership. The goal of the plan was to start with simple actions by both individuals and communities that could build to new habits and larger efforts. And there might be a little healthy competition between communities thrown in for good measure!

Poultney, Middlebury, Manchester, Montpelier, Hinesburg, NE Kingdom, Hardwick, and Northfield were some of the communities who participated. In many cases, EVT built energy components into preexisting events, such as a favorite chili cook-off or flea market. In other cases, EVT offered a perk, such as retrofitting a town hall or community building, once everyone in town had replaced at least one light bulb. College students were put to work promoting compact fluorescents to the town, in return for a greener campus.

By targeting towns where new generation was planned, EVT was able to use fun, and a little guilt, to reduce energy use significantly. In addition, as those citizens took the first steps toward lowered energy bills and greater efficiency, they asked for more and pursued a fuller set of offerings from EVT. By leveraging the existing networks, EVT was able to break the ice and reach people advertising might not have touched.

City of Cambridge

Cambridge City Hall

NStar is also involved in a unique partnership with the City of Cambridge and the Kendall Foundation called the Cambridge Energy Alliance (CEA), with the purpose of dramatically reducing energy use in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The minimum goals of CEA are to reduce peak demand by 50 MW, overall electric use by ten percent, and fossil fuel use by five percent within five years. While Vermont towns share a common culture, and the population tends to be somewhat homogeneous, Cambridge presents a mix of immigrants and Mayflower descendants, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, and four languages commonly spoken other than English. There are active climate groups, but membership is not citywide.

As a result of these demographics, the approach to date has been focused on market transformation rather than social marketing. Eighty percent of Cambridge emissions stem from building energy use, and two-thirds of that is from the commercial and institutional sector. The business model is that CEA will pay for the initial cost of efficiency improvements. Owners repay the cost by continuing to pay their utility bills at the previous rate, deferring their own savings until the initial cost is paid off. NStar handles the billing for these costs through their regular utility billing system.

NStar is working through the city rather than on its own for a variety of reasons. Citizens in Cambridge tend to know and trust their city officials, and the city has promotional channels in place to engage citizens and owners. The city has the authority to deal with all sectors, and can aggregate energy demand, public incentives, and private investment.

In addition, NStar is meeting three obstacles building owners face when trying to understand efficiency: it will explain what to do, list who can do it, and make the initial investment.

This effort is still in the planning stages; CEA is currently looking for an executive director, so the results are still not known. Working with community groups is a new area for some efficiency programs, and an interesting one. If this is an area you would like to explore, the Behavior Interest Group forming at CEE may be a good place to start. For more information, contact Monica Nevius.

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