Denver Energy Challenge Brings in Additional Partners...
Over the last 14 months, the Denver Energy Challenge has worked to assist residents and businesses within the City and County of Denver to reduce energy usage in existing buildings by providing free energy advising and rebates for improvements. Managed by the City’s Department of Environmental Health, the Denver Energy Challenge is grant funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Program through May of 2013. With the support of this grant, the program makes energy efficiency accessible for residents and businesses while providing ways to cut energy waste by 15% or more.
To date, the Denver Energy Challenge has served more than 3,786 residents and 843 businesses, providing resources resulting in energy efficiency improvements at over 1700 residential and 400 commercial buildings in Denver. These improvements have saved residents and businesses more than 14.6 million kilowatt hours of energy use annually, lowering utility bills, reducing CO2 emissions, while also improving the indoor comfort and air quality of these existing structures, and there’s still plenty more work to be done.
In an effort to increase the capacity of the Denver Energy Challenge, the City recently added contracts with five new partners: Populus, Groundwork Denver, The Brendle Group, The Learning Source and Walden Hyde. These partners join the Department of Environmental Health, Mile High Business Alliance, The Shaw Group, Revision International, Center for ReSource Conservation, and the Mile High Youth Corps as part of the overall Denver Energy Challenge program team. Collectively, the program has created more than 40 green jobs, not to mention the numerous indirect jobs created when energy improvements are made in each participating home or business. The program now offers an energy hotline with live experts (720-865-5520) to quickly assist Denver residents and businesses on their path to save energy.
With these additional partnerships, the Denver Energy Challenge is now equipped to serve even more residents and businesses. “It’s evident that energy savings are in demand and we expect to exceed our goal of reaching 6,000 homes and 1200 businesses by May of 2013. We are laying the foundation for the City to have a valuable system in place to further assist residents and businesses with energy conservation after the grant ends,” said Elizabeth Babcock, Residential Program Administrator for the Denver Energy Challenge.
Populus, Sustainable Design Consulting – The residential energy efficiency and building science consulting firm will provide live energy experts via phone in order to quickly assist resident and business inquiries and sign them up for the program. These experts can be reached Monday through Saturday, 8am through 6pm, by calling the energy hotline at 720-865-5520 (English and Spanish).
Groundwork Denver – A long time partner with the City and County of Denver, Groundwork Denver promotes environmental sustainability and health and well-being through community-based partnerships and action. They were selected to provide energy advising and an insulation group-buy to low-income Denver residents.
The Brendle Group – An environmentally focused engineering consulting firm, the Brendle Group will work with the commercial program to pilot deeper level building efficiency work, including tune ups and recommissioning of larger properties. They will also provide subject matter experts for business participants, tenants, and contractors.
The Learning Source – An expert in creating community based programs, the Learning Source will provide hands on workforce training related to energy efficiency. They will also provide subject matter experts for business participants, tenants, and contractors.
Walden Hyde – A Colorado PR/Marketing firm with extensive experience creating engagement around energy conservation as well as lasting behavior change in the residential and commercial sector. The firm will work with the Denver Energy Challenge team to create additional messaging strategies that highlight and increase program participation.
For more information about the Denver Energy Challenge, and to sign up, please call 720-865-5520 or visit: www.DenverEnergy.org.
- Login or register to post comments
