Finance & Commerce's "Focus on Energy" includes CEE
January 24, 2012
Finance & Commerce interviewed CEE Program Manager Carl Nelson for the article "Baby steps to big energy savings" for their January 2012 Special Section, "Focus on Energy." The article begins with an interview with Joshua Houdek, a participant in CEE's Community Energy Services residential energy program (and the 3rd place winner in the CES video contest):
After [his CES home energy visit], Houdek sealed and insulated his attic and installed double-pane, high-efficiency windows in his upstairs bedroom. Houdek estimates the improvements cost him around $2,400 but says his gas bill — at times more than $200 a month — has since been cut nearly in half.
Unfortunately, Houdek is an exception to the rule. A recent survey by public relations business the Shelton Group found that while 60% of residents saw their energy bills increase over the past two years, they had made an average of only 2.6 energy improvements in their homes - about half the amount needed to make a real dent.
Reporter Drew Kerr mentions several "grass-roots, community-focused programs that take a hands-on approach," including the Home Energy Squad and Community Energy Services, both of which are currently administered by CEE in Minneapolis.
“If people see this as something all their neighbors are doing, it makes it a lot more likely that they’ll do it,” said Carl Nelson, a program and policy manager for the Center for Energy and Environment, a nonprofit group that helps homeowners with energy issues. “We want to make energy efficiency just like mowing your lawn.”
+ "Baby steps to big energy savings," January 23, 2012