|
275,000
Kansans Save over $2.3 Million Annually
Topeka, KS – The Climate and Energy Project and the
Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) congratulated the Take Charge Challenge
communities of Baldwin City, Colby, Fort Scott, and Manhattan as winners of
four regional $100,000 grants for efficiency or renewable energy projects. These
grants are provided by the Kansas Corporation Commission, using some of the
Recovery Act funding they received from the Department of Energy. These winning
communities have been part of a nine-month, 16-community competition to save
energy and money for Kansans.
Governor Brownback awarded
Lawrence with the Take Charge Challenge basketball he signed at the kick-off
event in January at Cedar Crest. Lawrence saved more total energy than any
other participating community and was congratulated for their success.
Dorothy Barnett, executive
director of the Climate and Energy Project, stated, “These true competitors
worked hard to connect with neighbors and friends to distinguish their
communities as leaders in energy and money savings. Their hard work will
benefit these towns for years to come.”
In total, the communities
of the Take Charge Challenge saved:
110.2 billion BTUS of gas and electricity with an
annual value of $2,341,025;
22 million
kilowatt hours of electricity
19,002
barrels of oil from being imported
22 million
pounds of CO2 emissions from being released.
Patti Petersen-Klein,
executive director of the Kansas Corporation Commission, thanked the communities
for their hard work. “You have done a tremendous job of educating your
communities—from grade school students to senior citizens—about small changes
that can have a big impact on energy savings.”
“The 16 Take Charge
communities made a dramatic impact on energy consumption in Kansas. The
leadership teams and volunteers exceeded every expectation,” commented CEP
Board Chair, Nancy Jackson. “In nine months or 270 days these communities held
over 1,000 events and programs involving over 404,000 Kansans. That is an
average of 4 events a day. That’s a lot of talk about energy efficiency.”
“One goal of the Challenge
was to demonstrate the program’s effectiveness in all types of communities,
both rural and urban and with all types of utility partners: municipal, cooperative
and investor-owned utilities. We did just that,” shared Barnett. “From our
largest participating community, Lawrence, with a university and urban
population, to Hoxie in northwest Kansas, with a population of 1,082 – all of
the communities achieved success, thanks in large part to the outstanding
support of their utility partners.”
The success of this program
is garnering national attention for the state of Kansas as a leader in
innovative energy efficiency programs. In 2010, Take Charge was featured in a
Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s (LBL) report on energy efficiency as well as a front
page story in the New York Times. The continued success of the Take Charge
Challenge was the focus of a recent LBL documentary entitled “Common Ground.” Take
Charge was the only non-utility energy efficiency program to be included in a
soon-to-be-released report by the Smart Gird Collaborative. In addition, Take
Charge has captured the attention of the producers of “Earth, the Operator’s
Manual,” and will be featured on PBS in 2012.
“All of the communities who
participated in this year’s Challenge came together around a common cause:
changing energy efficiency from sacrifice to an everyone wins mentality,”
stated Barnett.
The Kansas
Corporation Commission (KCC) awarded $1.2 million in American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants to fund this year’s Take Charge! Challenge.
####
FOR MORE INFO www.takechargekansas.org
For interviews or comments
contact Kate Van Cantfort 620-899-4883 or Dorothy Barnett 785-424-0444.
|
