Beginning on Earth Day, you can receive a rebate of up to $250 if you exchange your old refrigerator, dishwasher, clothes washer, or freezer for a new energy efficient model. However advanced registration required for these rebates will only be available for a two week period. Start planning now if you want to take advantage of this offer and save you money on your utility bills for years to come.
Cambridge was fortunate to have City Councilor Henrietta Davis attend the recent United Nations conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen. Here is a report of her experiences:
Some have called the COP 15 meeting last month in Copenhagen “the environmental Woodstock of this generation.” It brought together people from far and wide with high hopes and aspirations, representatives of large countries and small, some like the Maldives, fighting for their survival.
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People make all kinds of New Years resolutions: eating better, exercising more, quitting bad habits. But what about resolutions that will help you to save money and also help preserve our planet for future generations?
Many people around the world are pledging to cut their energy use and slim down their carbon footprint in 2010. In the United Kingdom, the 10:10 Campaign is asking people to reduce their carbon footprint by 10% in the 2010. The campaign has already achieved some remarkable successes with over 55,000 people taking the pledge as well as many organizations and governmental entities.
Here at the Cambridge Energy Alliance, we’d like you to consider your own carbon footprint and think about changes you can make in your life to slim down the carbon emissions from your lifestyle. To that end, we have a new tool available for you: Smarter Cambridge. It can help you identify areas of waste and suggest a variety of means to save water and energy while reducing your utility bills. The tool is open to anyone in Greater Boston, so feel free to tell your friends as well.
As always, please feel free to contact us if you have more questions or would like some assistance making your carbon reduction resolution a reality in the new year.
Cambridge is fortunate to have City Councilor Henrietta Davis representing Cambridge as part of the National League of Cities delegation to the International Climate Congress now underway in Copenhagen. Councilor Davis has been posting some of her notes and impressions of the conference at the Greater Boston Sierra Club Group blog but has allowed us to also post some excerpts here. It is very exciting for Cambridge to participate in this conference, particularly in light of all the work that is underway locally on climate change issues including the recent Cambridge Climate Congress as well as the work that the municipal government and the Cambridge Energy Alliance are doing.
There are places you can read about the Copenhagen congress including here and here but below are some of excerpts from Councilor Davis’ reports from the conference.
All quotations excerpted from sierragbg.blogspot.com
“Just returned from a gathering of municipal leaders in honor of the COP-15 host, Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard of Copenhagen. While there our team connected with several other local government leaders, including Mayor Bloomberg of New York, Mayor Nickels of Seattle, and Mayor Elizabeth Kautz of Burnsville, MN — the incoming president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which hosted this event. As this was a meeting of municipal leaders from around the globe we were also pleased to spend time speaking with the Mayor of Istanbul, Kadir Topbas, and Mayor David Bronoconnier of Calgary. The event underscored the important role that local government has had leading the fight against climate change. In remarks to the group, Lord Mayor Bjerregaard pointed out that the assembled group of mayors and local officials rightfully arrived in Copenhagen ahead of their national delegations physically, much in the same way that they have also been actively ahead of national leadership on this important issue.”
“At a negotiation session with the State Department advocating for partnerships between the federal government and cities and towns on climate. We are the folks who are following through on adaptation and mitigation. We want to be at the table as this action goes forward. We are focused and committed and we’d like to be formally recognized in the agreement and in the language. Ten minutes later…I just testified, representing 19,000 cities and towns. Members of the National League of Cities, Conference of Mayors and Counties, and ICLEI delivered a unified message, asking the US State Department to work in coordination with us. We are critical partners. We’ve been doing this work for years.”
We here at the Cambridge Energy Alliance have noticed that we have “busy season” when it comes to interest in Home Energy Audits. As the weather starts to get colder, people tend to start thinking more about ways they can keep their home warm and save money on their heating bills.
The follow graph shows the relative interest in the search term “Home Energy Audit” from people in the Boston Metro Area over the last year.
As you can see, interest peaked this year in January-February 2009 right around the coldest part of Winter. Unfortunately with the increased interest, comes delays in scheduling energy audits because too many people want audits all at the same time. Fortunately, there is still time this season to get an energy audit before the rush is fully on. You can learn more about energy audits in Cambridge by clicking here. You can learn more about Energy Audits generally and in Massachusetts by clicking here.