On March 31st, SmartPower launched America’s Greenest Campus, a nationwide contest that gives colleges and universities the unique opportunity to compete for campus sustainability funding by reducing their carbon footprints. The contest is a partnership between SmartPower and Climate Culture, the premier online carbon measurement and reduction utility, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

AmericasGreenestCampus.com offers an incredible amount of specific information on how college students can reduce the carbon emissions that result from their energy use, and guides participants to fight global climate change by making personalized energy saving commitments. The contest then tracks the collective carbon reductions of participating students, faculty, staff and alumni from campuses across the country.
“America’s Greenest Campus empowers everyone on campus to be more energy efficient by increasing our awareness about the impact of our everyday actions,” said Colin Bennett, student and AGC campus organizer at George Mason University. “Unlike other social networking sites, Climate Culture and America's Greenest Campus help engage our students and turn saving energy into a competitive endeavor with other schools. We all want to make a positive difference for the environment, and now we can have a lot of fun while we do it.”

Internet celebrity Obama Girl, and BarelyPolitical.com helped kick off AGC with the music video “Save Your Energy”, produced just for this contest.  In this campy, catchy and hilarious hip-hop video, Obama Girl encourages young people to follow the president’s lead, and be part of the green movement by joining the AGC contest. Check it out at: www.americasgreenestcampus.com

Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons has also enthusiastically joined this campaign to help America’s young people to become Energy Smart. “I'm pleased to join America's Greenest Campus in this nationwide effort to empower young people to reduce their carbon footprint, and fight climate change on college campuses across America,” says Simmons. “As Editor-in-Chief of globalGrind.com, which presents the world according to Hip-Hop, I believe youth all around the world are the key to creative solutions for many of the big issues facing our planet. The new technology used by this effort is relevant and cutting-edge, and has the power to make history.”

According to a recent survey, 7 in 10 Americans say they want to reduce their carbon footprint, but lack the information and tools to do so. The America’s Greenest Campus Web site provides hundreds of actions to help individuals save money, gasoline, water and other resources while reducing CO2 emissions. Participants provide AGC with information about their daily energy use, so they can get exact figures that show their efforts are really cutting back pollution. Since AGC is one large social network, anyone can track both their personal success and their school’s standing against others across the nation.

“Reaching out to college students and showing them how they can be part of the energy solution is what our organization is all about,” says Brian F. Keane, President of SmartPower. “We are proud to partner with Climate Culture, and the U.S. Department of Energy to show Americans how they can take concrete, meaningful steps towards reducing their carbon footprints.”

Facebook users can also join the America’s Greenest Campus contest through their account by using the Climate Culture Facebook Application. This enables people on Facebook to view their waste reductions, their three most recent carbon reduction commitments, and the reductions taken by other people on Facebook, as well. Check out the app here: apps.facebook.com/climate_culture

“Climate Culture has made it easy and intuitive for people to live a sustainable lifestyle,” says Tom Scaramellino, CEO of Climate Culture. “There is simply nothing else like our program to empower our nation’s youth, and with America’s Greenest Campus, we are giving them a way to build a community and make a difference on climate change.”

America’s Greenest Campus runs until October 5, 2009. The winners will be announced in two areas – the school with the most participants and the school with the most carbon reductions per participant – on October 12, 2009. Each winning school will receive $5,000 in cash prizes to be used towards sustainability initiatives on campus.

SmartPower has long believed that understanding consumer behavior is a critical aspect of developing effective energy campaigns. While polling and other quantitative surveys can report homeowner’s thoughts about energy efficiency, they are limited in their ability to help understand the underlying emotional barriers of consumers, which are more often what determines consumer action, or inaction.

This past winter SmartPower managed two separate studies involving homeowners and energy efficiency. First, SmartPower joined with the Cambridge Energy Alliance, to study motivations and satisfaction levels with home energy audits performed through CEA’s energy efficiency program.

For this project, a selection of Cambridge Energy Alliance’s audit customers was asked to perform a detailed online survey. The information gathered from the survey was then followed up on during one-on-one interviews between the customers and SmartPower Director of Marketing, Lyn Rosoff. The results of the research allowed CEA to better understand how to help homeowners know the next steps to take after receiving home energy audit recommendations.

The second research project was a qualitative study involving homeowners in the Greater Hartford, Connecticut area.  Here, the focus was on general energy efficiency attitudes and behaviors, and how the two have changed the over past few years. SmartPower wanted to learn how homeowners felt about energy in relationship to their own lives, and what their motivations for reducing energy use were—particularly in the face of economic uncertainty and volatile energy prices.

Both projects, coupled with research from previous studies, provided insight on the best ways to shape energy efficiency outreach efforts targeted to today’s homeowner. The findings include:

1. The economic climate, along with the collapse of banks and industry, has led to a strong distrust for organizations and institutions unlike that which we have seen before.  Consumers don’t know whom to believe.
2. This distrust extends to skepticism about climate change claims.  Many consumers do not know what to believe.
3. Even environmental activists who have had home energy audits are motivated by saving money, although most consumers would report that “it’s about more than just saving money.”
4. Almost all our homeowners were taking some steps to reduce energy use, and were quite proud of their actions.  Being Energy Smart by being more efficiency efficient made these homeowners feel wise.
5. While we know that homeowners tend to over-report installations, we found that almost all homeowners reported using CFL’s, and had no complaints about quality. Further, homeowners reported that they felt smart when they installed CFL's.

SmartPower is now utilizing the knowledge gained from these studies about emotional motivations to design more outreach campaigns that will compel consumers to adopt greater energy efficiency behaviors.

The consumer demand for clean energy in southeast Pennsylvania today is stronger than ever—as SmartPower proudly announces that six more communities in Greater Philadelphia have met their campaign goals, and are now official Pennsylvania Clean Energy Communities.

As part of the Pennsylvania Clean Energy Communities Campaign, 20 communities were promised a $10,000 solar energy system for committing to get 20% of their municipal energy from clean energy sources by 2010. The communities also had to organize and campaign to sign up either 7% of their residents and businesses to purchase utility-provided, state sourced wind energy, or to get enough customers in the community signed up to equal 60,000 kWh a month of clean energy purchases.

And as of deadline for this article, the communities of Media Borough, Marple Township, Schuylkill Township, Warrington Township, Warminster Township and Doylestown Borough had all met their goals. After months of dedicated campaigning to tell their neighbors about how clean energy is real, here and working, these communities now have the enjoyment of deciding where to place there 1 kWh solar photovoltaic system award—as well as knowing that more people are buying clean energy in their communities than most in the rest of the country.

Maybe more heartening to SmartPower than the winning achievements of these communities is the sincere and continued dedication to marketing clean energy. “This is great news . . . and I’m still supposed to talk to a couple churches next week,” said Dan McPhillips, Chairman of the Warminster Township Environmental Advisory Council. “We’ll see if we can still get them to jump on board with buying clean energy.”

The Campaign recently celebrated it’s first, of several to come, solar award ceremonies. Dozens of curious and energy smart residents from Tredyffrin Township, PA gathered at the local Wilson Farm Park on St. Patrick’s Day morning last month to show support for clean energy in their community.

Still forced by the 40-something degree temperature to wear their winter coats and gloves, the Tredyffrin residents enthusiastically joined with representatives of the Pennsylvania Clean Energy Communities Campaign coalition to officially receive their $10,000 solar PV system from Smart Power and TRF Sustainable Development Fund.

Now, the house-sized concession stand in the heart of the 90-acre park is topped with a sleek, SUNPOWER solar PV system that will generate clean, renewable energy for the heavily used building. And even more importantly, with Wilson Farm Park consisting of multiple baseball fields, other sports facilities, playgrounds, picnic areas and an amphitheater where summer concerts are held, it’s easy to imagine the countless people who will see clean energy technology helping to power their community on a regular basis.

Brian Wright, SmartPower Director of Programs, said there is no better billboard for solar energy than a solar panel. “Having this solar energy system up in the heart of Tredyffrin’s very popular park is a wonderful way to market clean energy,” said Wright. “SmartPower looks forward to the many other solar energy systems that will dot the landscape in southeast Pennsylvania through this campaign.”

It was, indeed, a community effort that helped make Tredyffrin a Pennsylvania Clean Energy Community, and become eligible to receive the 1.26 kWh, 6-panel energy system. The board of supervisors passed a resolution in December 2006 to commit to purchase 20% of their municipal energy from clean energy sources by 2010. Afterwards, the township’s Environmental Advisory Council successfully got 7% of the utility customers in the community signed up to buy Pennsylvania-sourced clean energy through options like PECO Wind.

Tredyffrin fulfilled their 20% by 2010 commitment in 2008, and continues to purchase 20% clean energy from PECO Wind (PA-sourced wind energy provided by Community Energy). Plus, today, over 8% of the utility customers in the community have signed up for clean energy—making Tredyffrin one of the greatest clean energy purchasers in the campaign, as well as the entire state.

The Campaign’s solar installers, Solardelphia and Conergy now have more Clean Energy Community award systems scheduled for installation throughout Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

SmartPower looks forward to a strong finish to the Campaign, and a fun summer with solar panels pop up in Clean Energy Communities throughout southeastern Pennsylvania.

Submission deadline changed to coincide
with AGC

In order to bring the greatest buzz to both America’s Greenest Campus and SmartPower’s Energy Smart Ad Challenge, we have moved the end date of the $10,000 Energy Smart Ad Challenge on YouTube to coincide with the end of the America’s Greenest Campus contest. All Ad Challenge entries must now be submitted by October 5, 2009. The winning video will be announced on December 5, 2009.

Check out the newest ads at www.youtube.com/smartpower.