Power in Community Energy Competition

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Open Invitation to K/WT Neighbors to compete in the Pilot Neighborhood Energy Conservation Competition

Hi Neighbors,

My name is Ellen Honigstock.

Many of you know me – I’m an architect in the neighborhood who works on environmental and energy efficiency projects.

I have been working (volunteering is more accurate) with NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) to design a neighborhood residential energy saving competition using Con Ed bills as the scoring device and I want to ask Kensington & Windsor Terrace to host the pilot project.

Neighbors would compete to reduce their energy consumption and there would be winners in two categories – biggest loser and smallest footprint. Our theory is that the entire group’s consumption would be reduced by gaining awareness about energy conservation plus a little peer pressure.

We want to pilot this competition in Kensington/Windsor Terrace within the next three months, starting February 1st. Eventually, we’d want to scale it up so that we could have KWT versus Park Slope (we’d kick their butts) versus Fort Greene, versus Flatbush versus Sunset Park etc... and eventually Brooklyn v. Queens!

In order to make the competition fun and fair, we need a year’s worth of energy bills from about 100 real households in order to see the actual data trends from month to month. Anyone who pays their own energy bill is eligible to compete. We aren’t offering prizes yet but there will be promotions, and the winner(s) can be featured on the website if they want! The main benefit will be an increased awareness about your energy usage and (hopefully) a reduction in your bills!

Would you be interested in allowing us to use your electrical data?

This is what we would ask you to do:

Fill out a short online questionnaire including your neighborhood, zipcode, type of home, number of occupants and appliances and allow us to access your Con Ed account using your account number. Just go here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NYSERDA

The information will be used only to crunch numbers to figure out and inform you of your energy consumption compared to your neighbors, it will NOT be released to anyone else. You will receive a monthly email with your standing in the competition, energy saving tips from NYSERDA and coupons/special offers for energy saving products. Signing up will not put you on any other NYSERDA email list.

We are hoping to have everyone signed up by the end of January. Thank you in advance and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need further information. Click here to see the competition rules so you don’t have to scroll through the survey.



Ellen Honigstock



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Ellen Honigstock RA, LEED AP
Ellen Honigstock Architect PC
Sustainable Strategies for Existing Buildings
45 Main Street #806
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(212) 228-1585
ellen@ehapc.com
www.ehapc.com
[toeprint project] www.toeprintproject.com