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Brant County Power’s Conservation County program ended on a high note with the residential winner of the competition achieving a 30.8% reduction in electricity use and the commercial winner achieving a reduction of 11.4%. Nearly 120 households and commercial businesses and more than 80 children entered the Conservation County contests. This was a remarkable turnout that successfully engaged the local Brant County community and moved residents closer to a Conservation Culture.
On September 24, 2005 Brant County Power successfully wrapped up a four month long education and awareness campaign on energy efficiency and conservation called Conservation County. Conservation County was developed by IndEco Strategic Consulting as part of Brant County Power’s 2004-2005 Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) Plan and was implemented by Brant County Power. The objectives of Conservation County were to:
- Increase County residents’ and businesses’ level of understanding of the importance of energy efficiency and energy conservation;
- Increase County residents’ and businesses’ awareness of existing programs and resources that can provide them with ideas, financial support or other support to reduce their own energy use;
- Publicly demonstrate the use and benefits of energy efficient technology; and
- Stimulate enthusiasm, innovation and action within the community.
Conservation County “kicked off” with a community event on May 14th 2005, which was attended by then Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy (and now Minister of Energy), Donna Cansfield. At the launch, there were company displays with information on conservation technologies, a bucket ride for the children and a hot dog lunch.
The key component of Conservation County was a competition in three categories: Household, Commercial, and a Grade 5 poster contest. Brant County Power announced the winners at an awards ceremony on September 24, 2005. The winners of the Household and Commercial contests were judged on how much electricity they saved based on the amounts of electricity they were using before the competition began compared to the amount at the closing of the competition. Their electricity consumption for June, July and August of this year was compared to the same months in 2004. The participants also had to provide information on what actions they took to reduce their electricity use.
The winner of the Household contest was Michael Morse. He received an Energy Star® appliance ($1,000 gift certificate) for reducing his three-month electricity use by 30.8%. He achieved this success by disposing of unused appliances, replacing existing appliances with Energy Star appliances, switching to CFLs and installing solar technologies.
The winner of the Commercial contest was the Paris Health Store. The store also received an Energy Star® appliance ($1,000 gift certificate) for reducing its June, July and August electricity consumption by 11.4%.
These large electricity savings were achieved despite the fact that during the summer of 2005 most locations in Ontario broke seasonal record temperatures, many of which had stood for 50 years. These high temperatures and humidity levels resulted in new records being set for electricity demand as customers increased their air conditioning use to deal with the heat waves. Ontario set a new all-time record on July 13 when demand reached 26,160 megawatts.
Abby O’Neill-Reddin won the Grade 5 poster competition because her poster had the best conservation message. All of the posters entered in the competition were on display at Brant County Power's headquarters.
This energy conservation awareness program is an excellent example of a program to engage a local community to take action on reducing electricity consumption. It can be replicated in Brant County and in other communities.
About the author:
Shona Adamson is a consultant at IndEco Strategic Consulting Inc. Shona is an environmental researcher with extensive experience in a broad range of environmental issues. She has a background in physical and environmental science. |