Making a city more energy efficient

This post is contributed by Ana Chirinos in PennFuture's Pittsburgh office. Chirinos is a Green Cities Fellow working with the Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign.

ReEnergize Pgh is a coordinated effort to reduce home energy consumption throughout Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. It is made up of non-profits, utilities, environmental awareness groups, municipalities, energy auditors and community organizers, all with the common goal of increasing demand for energy efficiency services. 

This year, ReEnergize Pgh started an Energy Ambassador program. It's a take on traditional block captains but with a green twist.  An Energy Ambassador is someone who has been identified as a community leader. This person has roots in their area and the capacity to inspire and motivate others. Energy Ambassadors share information about various sustainable initiatives. They also organize energy efficiency workshops, open house home energy audits, appliance exchange programs, and other green opportunities.

Energy Ambassadors work with PennFuture's Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign to coordinate Neighborhood Blitzes in their community. This partnership between ReEnergize Pgh and Black and Gold helps to further the community goals of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan. 

There are 16 Energy Ambassadors in 14 communities across the Pittsburgh area. This is a widespread community engagement and education campaign, adaptive to neighborhoods of different demographics, and intentional about connecting people directly to energy efficiency resources. Energy Ambassadors are essential because of their ability to convey information in an appropriate way to people in their neighborhood. 

Overall, the mission of these Energy Ambassadors is to decrease energy waste, resulting in a measurable reduction in a community’s carbon footprint. While quantifiable metrics are important, the potential for community engagement may be the most important point in such a program. After all, taking a wasted resource and making it a community asset is paramount in the transformation to a sustainable community.

Blitzing the neighborhoods

This post is from newest climate blogger Ana Chirinos in PennFuture's Pittsburgh office. Ana is a Green Cities Fellow, working with the Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign.

The Black and Gold City Goes Green campaign is the community arm of the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative (PCI). What do we do? The PCI raises awareness and engages Pittsburgh's residents, businesses, government and institutions of higher education by taking concrete actions that reduce carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution and their impact on our local economy and human health.

The primary initiative of the BGCGG campaign is what we call neighborhood blitzes. We work with neighborhoods in Pittsburgh to distribute free reusable grocery bags full of energy and water saving tools to help people save energy and money in their homes and in turn reduce their carbon footprint. A group of neighborhood volunteers go door-to-door delivering things like CFL light bulbs, smart power strips, LED nightlights, etc. 

Blitzes have proven to be extremely effective, because of their ability to engage people in a community. It can be challenging to get people in-tune and interested in something as saturated and politicized as sustainability. The blitz model is unique because it goes directly to the resident and encourages personal interaction. The energy saving tools are brought right to the community, benefiting all those who choose to open their door! Residents have shown to be receptive and grateful to receive the energy-saving tools. 

Our hope is that providing people with these tools will not only help to reduce their energy usage, but will also encourage them to take the next step to get an energy audit on their house - thus making their homes more energy efficient – all in the name of climate change!