Philadelphia Residents Learn How to Save Energy and Money
This is a guest post by Claire Fawcett, a former resident of Philadelphia who now works for a non-profit in Oakland, California.
Some envision environmentalists as wealthy, Burkenstock-clad radicals who have no awareness of the “real” issues affecting the average American. Though this stereotype is inaccurate, it is promoted by environmentally unfriendly politicians to ostracize the green movement. Thus, the majority of the population is left feeling that it doesn’t possess the passion, the time, or the money to participate in preservation.
Luckily for those of us who proclaim ourselves environmentalists, more and more non-profits in Philadelphia are pitching conservation from a different angle to people who may not immediately consider themselves green. The Energy Coordinating Agency, the Partnership CDC, the Enterprise Center, and other community based organizations promote environmental initiatives through proving that conservation isn’t only friendly to the environment but also helps to fight poverty.
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Workshop Creation
Imanni Wilkes, a project coordinator for the Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation, a non-profit that supports community-led initiatives in the Walnut Hill area, describes the non-profit’s reason for providing citizens with an energy conservation workshop.
“We had done a survey with the community and one of the questions was: ‘How much did you spend on your heating and cooling bills in the summer and winter?’ The response was that some people spend about $800 per month on their bills. That’s how we arrived at the conclusion that we needed to do the workshop.”
The workshop, conducted by the Mayor’s Office of Community Services, focused on simple ways that citizens could conserve energy such as turning off the lights in vacant rooms, unplugging unused appliances, weatherizing windows, and using energy-efficient light bulbs. Each of the twenty-five participants was provided a goody bag with a caulking gun, weather stripping, and light bulbs. Ms. Wilkes explained it was effective for the population that the Enterprise Center works with. “We were trying to give homeowners tools that they could use to change their seemingly unchangeable expenses, such as utility bills, so that they believe they can effect change that way. “
Agency Support for Conservation
Another non-profit, the Energy Coordinating Agency, often participates in such workshops. The ECA channels its conservation money through community organizations that it designates as Neighborhood Energy Centers, dubbed on the ECA’s website as “one stop shops.” In the Centers, counselors give advice and help to low-income residents pay their utility bills, create budgets, and, most importantly, conserve energy. In addition, they help residents fill out applications to have their homes weatherized by the Energy Coordinating Agency which range in price based on residents’ income.
The Partnership Community Development Corporation is one of the ECA’s Neighborhood Energy Centers. The Partnership CDC’s mission has been to rehab homes in West Philadelphia and sell them to first time home buyers. It began doing green work after CDC employees realized that many homeowners had trouble keeping their energy bills in check. The LIHEAP program, which helps people to pay their heating and cooling bills, simply wasn’t enough.
“Two years ago we started to offer LIHEAP crisis services and we realized that people were heating their houses to 87 degrees or cooling them to 62 degrees. We wanted to start workshops on how to conserve energy so that they wouldn’t have to come in with crises,” explains Jesse Averill, a community outreach worker at the Partnership CDC.
The Partnership CDC has offered weatherization workshops, similar to those of Enterprise CDC, where it partners with PECO, Philadelphia’s utility provider, and the Energy Coordinating Agency. Participants receive free energy kits to assist them in saving money and the environment. Though the workshops started small, word of their effectiveness spread until, in March, the workshop filled to the brim with community members. Through the Partnership CDC, many apply to have their homes weatherized by the ECA, which surveys homes and tells owners how to reduce their energy usage through changing appliances, adding roofing, or insulating their homes.
Expanding Environmentalism
Without the aid of the ECA or its endorsement, the Partnership CDC is expanding its environmental focus and is now conducting workshops on recycling, water conservation, and tree planting. What’s next? Ms. Averill is already talking about information and training on green collar jobs for her community members.
Though the green movement has many more potential members to reach, it has at least started to make its way into the lives of normal Philadelphia residents, proving that green can also be affordable. Ms. Wilkes explains, “Though I don’t remember mentioning the effect on environmentalism specifically we definitely saw it as part of the Enterprise Center’s belief that green can be more accessible to everybody.”
Well written Claire! I know in Cincinnati the gas and electric company will come to your house and do a free home energy audit to tell you what you could do to conserve. We had it done and they told us all kinds of things - from adding more insulation in the attic to changing light bulbs! Some of the changes are expensive to implement but they pay back in the long run both to the environment and your wallet.
This article was really helpful to me, Claire. You’re doing great work. I hope to read more about these - and related - activities some later time!