Sustainable Contra Costa has recently joined in partnership with the County of Contra Costa to encourage local businesses to participate in the East Bay Energy Watch. EBEW, as it is often called, is a local initiative to incentivize businesses to upgrade their energy-efficiency, especially by upgrading to energy-efficient LED lighting. EBEW provides substantial technical and financial assistance to businesses with rebates often covering 50-100% of the cost of the upgrades. Businesses can easily get started with the program by signing up for an energy audit where an energy-efficiency consultant will come to their place of business free of charge and provide a fully customized cost, benefit and savings analysis for making the recommended upgrades.
SCOCO has assembled a team of skilled volunteers dedicated to sustainability and determined to help make a difference by taking action locally. The team consists of a mix of seasoned professionals, two CivicSpark Fellows and two college interns. Kat Atkinson, the Programs Coordinator for SCOCO, leads the team and also helps with the direct outreach. She is an advocate for small changes that make a big impact, which is what keeps her motivated while working on this program. She stated, “If every business and home in United States simply upgraded their lighting to the new LEDs, the energy needs for lighting in this country would drop dramatically, perhaps by as much 80%. That’s why this work is so important. If we can even help a few businesses to make these upgrades, I feel like we made a difference.”
Anchoring the EBEW outreach team are two seasoned professionals, Doug Bleakly and Erika Sheen, who volunteer with SCOCO as Business Energy-Efficiency Specialists. Bleakly, a Colorado native who has been living in the Bay Area for the past thirty years, is a geologist by training. His career has taken him from the energy industry to environmental consulting and back again, with a stop along the way in the startup world of Silicon Valley. He jumped at the chance to volunteer with SCOCO, seeing it as a way to make a contribution toward changing our energy future. Erika Sheen, a native of Peru now living in Walnut Creek, is another seasoned member of the EBEW outreach team. Sheen holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies, in addition to an MBA. She is dedicated to business energy-efficiency and has years of experience performing energy audits and assessments in a variety of capacities. Additionally, her fluency in Spanish has proved helpful while reaching out to the Spanish-speaking small business owners in Contra Costa County.
The SCOCO volunteer team for EBEW also consists of two CivicSpark Fellows, Amaury Berteaud and Clifford Wang. CivicSpark is a Governor’s Initiative AmeriCorps program dedicated to building capacity for local governments to address climate change and water management issues in California, administered by the Local Government Commission in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. Wang is assisting SCOCO with volunteer coordination while completing his fellowship with the City of Walnut Creek. As a SCOCO volunteer, Amaury Berteaud is performing direct outreach to businesses while completing his fellowship with the County of Contra Costa and the Cities of Pittsburg and Antioch. Berteaud has also been working with the County directly on EBEW outreach to businesses.
Rounding out the team are two promising interns, Mary Thomasmeyer and Namita Sharona. Thomasmeyer is a senior at UC Berkeley studying Society & Environment and Public Policy. She plans to pursue a career in government working on sustainability and energy issues. She has been helping with direct outreach in the LaMorinda area and is excited to continue promoting energy efficiency in the East Bay. Namita Sharona is a second year student at DVC studying business administration, with a budding interest in sustainability. Sharona has been assisting SCOCO with marketing and social media posts for EBEW.
In less than two months, the team has personally visited almost 250 businesses in Contra Costa County and registered 35 businesses for a free energy audit. The response of local business owners has been incredibly positive, and the success rate for businesses moving forward with the free energy audit is almost 60% when the owner is spoken to in person about the program. Of course, catching busy business owners in person is the number one challenge stated by the team. It happens less than 20% of the time. The most common reason for choosing not to proceed with the energy audit is that the business has already performed lighting upgrades themselves. To those businesses who have already made energy-efficiency upgrades, SCOCO applauds you! We also applaud those willing to take a moment to learn about the cost, savings and benefits of doing so. For businesses interested in taking the first step with the East Bay Energy Watch, check out our Action Guide for details on the program: http://www.sustainablecoco.org/node/221. Also visit the East Bay Energy Watch table at our 8th Annual Leadership in Sustainability Awards Gala on September 21st!
Replies