GREENSBORO, NC - ESG Energy is pleased to announce that it has received an Energy Efficiency Education and Demonstration Challenge Grant from the City of Greensboro to improve education and energy efficiency within the Greensboro city limits. The grant is funded through the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
ESG Energy will use the grant funds to collaborate with Guilford College, the University of North Carolina A & T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in an energy efficiency demonstration project in Greensboro, NC. An intern position will be created at each of the local universities to manage the implementation of this project, which will take place at Partnership Village, a transitional multifamily community where formerly homeless individuals and families reside. ESG Energy’s auditors will conduct green assessments, provide energy and water-saving fixtures and recommend additional energy and water efficiency upgrades to Greensboro Urban Ministry, the managers of Partnership Village. Lori Hutcherson, an intern at ESG Energy and co-author of the grant proposal, states “Perhaps the most important aspect of this project is while the assessments are occurring, the student interns will educate residents on how simple lifestyle changes will reduce their utility bills.”
This project will take place over several months as resident bills are tracked for energy use reduction. While the project is underway, student volunteers from the three collaborating universities will be reaching out to local elementary and middle schools to conduct demonstration projects that teach students the importance of energy and water efficiency. The students will also contact other local multifamily communities in Greensboro to share energy saving information. The culmination of the project is a resident social event at Partnership Village that announces which residents of that community had the greatest reduction in utility bills over a two-month period. “We want to create a friendly competition so the residents do everything they can to reduce their energy use” states Hutcherson.
The final step is to create a manual that shows how this project can be applied to other communities in North Carolina and elsewhere. Says Hutcherson, “We know this program will reduce the amount of money the residents pay for energy and water and want it to be implemented all across America.”
In addition to providing green build verification services for the NAHB, ESG Energy provides energy analysis for the highly successful EPA’s ENERGY STAR Homes program. The firm has conducted green audits for several thousand HUD-maintained properties and assists residential and commercial property owners through energy and water use analysis. ESG Energy’s Carbon Footprint Certification Program is intended to lessen climate change by encouraging good practice in carbon measurement, management and reduction.
Source: Environmental Solutions Group