Tag Archives: volunteer

Volunteers Take Energy Efficiency to Cambridge’s Main Streets

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CEA canvassing interns: Stephanie, Mira, Danit, Trevor, Federico, Laurence

On July 7th CEA’s six volunteers took to the streets for the first time, canvassing businesses in Inman Square, and eastward on Cambridge Street. Over the next three weeks, they would reach out to over 440 people in small local businesses—barber shops, cafes, hardware stores, book stores, florists, bars, convenience stores, restaurants, bike shops, you name it—in North Cambridge, Leslie and Porter Square, Harvard Square and Church Street, Mount Auburn and Brattle Street, Dana Hill, Bow Street, Central Square, Lafayette, Concord Ave, Huron, East Cambridge, and Broadway.

In 90+ degree heat, over previously unfamiliar terrain, and sometimes through rain storms, the teams of interns  met with over 190 business owners and discussed energy efficiency opportunities—programs and incentives from NSTAR—while also providing information on other sustainability resources, as detailed in my first canvass blog.

These canvassers, our 14 to 18 year-old Northeastern University Summer Discovery and Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment interns—Stephanie, Federico, Danit, Laurence, Mira, and Trevor—distributed information and opportunity all over Cambridge, and gained valuable life and work experiences. For that, they thank the small business community of Cambridge.

We can all thank them for something, too.

After canvassing for 12 days and following up with phone calls to visited businesses, CEA has received 100 requests for energy assessments through NSTAR’s Direct Install, Small Business Program. We expect many more to accrue, as folks have time to browse the literature and call to talk with our Energy Advisor, or sign up online.

If you own a small business in Cambridge, please feel free to call CEA to talk, or sign up online at any time; our canvassers have gone home, but the operation is not over, by any means.

Thanks to NSTAR, CEA, and our six interns, Cambridge has now taken one step further in the direction of reducing its carbon footprint, and thereby, toward taking a concrete stab at the Climate Change caused by Global Warming. Congratulations, Cambridge businesses!

CEA and NSTAR canvass Cambridge businesses

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CEA canvassing interns: Trevor, Laurence, Stephanie, Mira, Danit, Federico

Starting Wednesday, July 7th, a city-wide canvass will be visiting Cambridge business squares, bringing money- and planet-saving opportunities to the doors of hundreds of small businesses.  Canvassers will talk with business owners about what they can do to make their businesses more energy efficient, supplying them with ample information about which programs to employ to best suit their needs. During these short interactions, businesses will have the chance to sign up for a free energy assessment, and connect with other community resources including:

  • New Generation Energy works with green-minded individuals, corporations, and foundations to develop funds to help support green energy upgrades for community nonprofit organizations.
  • The Sustainable Business Leader Program assists businesses in Boston and Cambridge to become more sustainable by offering technical, hands-on assistance that is affordable, actionable and practical.

In previous residential canvasses, the numbers of buildings reached has been substantial.  Through the efforts from Northeastern University’s Summer Discovery Internship program as well as the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program, the Cambridge Energy Alliance will reach an estimated 1,000 small businesses by the completion of the campaign–  July 22nd. These students range from age 14 to 18 years of age, and have come from both nearby (Cambridge) and far (UK, China, Nicaragua, California, and New Jersey)  to make a real difference in this community, while gaining experience that they will surely employ in future ventures.

This campaign is especially significant due to the nature of the target audience. Eighty percent of energy used in Cambridge goes to buildings, and 67% of energy used in Cambridge goes to commercial use. Reducing the commercial energy used by implementing efficiency measures from simply replacing incandescent lighting with CFL bulbs to improving heating and cooling systems within businesses will go a long way toward reducing Cambridge’s overall carbon footprint.

The CEA interns will be out in the field Monday-Thursday from 1pm-3:30pm. So that you may be on the lookout for their friendly faces when they’re in your area, here’s the tentative schedule:

July 7th: Inman Square & Cambridgeport

July 8th: North Cambridge

July 12th: Leslie & Porter Square

July 13th: Harvard Square & Church Street

July 14th: Mt. Auburn & Brattle Square

July 15th: Dana Hill, Bow Street, & City Hall

July 19th: Central Square & Lafayette

July 20th: Concord Ave, Huron, & Strawberry Hill

July 21st: East Cambridge

July 22nd: Kendal/Brookline/Sherman/Broadway

Peabody Terrace Competition Results

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On March 6th, 84 residents at Peabody Terrace participated in an incandescent light bulb swap for compact fluorescent bulbs. Residents received one free CFL for every incandescent bulb they turned in—over 200 efficient CFLs found homes. The CFLs were provided by the Cambridge Energy Alliance and Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES). HEET, CEA, and HRES organized the promotion and logistics of this successful competition.

During the swap, residents learned about other ways to cut their carbon emissions—seasonable tips also available—and many signed up for a two-month long competition to see who can reduce them the most.

The results are in!

  • Apartments reduced their electricity use by an average of 11%
  • The top six winners reduced their electricity use by 30%
  • And the first place prize winner reduced electricity use by 58%

Winners received several enticing prizes including Smart Strips; credit at Zip Car; and gift certificates/cards from Clear Conscience Café, Shaw’s and Harvest Co-op Market.

Clean up Central Square on Sunday, April 25!

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Prince street, Cambridge, MA Spring Cleanup, CleanCambridge.org by Clean Cambridge Clear Conscience Café, Toscanini’s Ice Cream and the Central Square Business Association will sponsor “Clean Up Central Square” Sunday, April 25, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

The Central Square Cleanup will kick off at 8:30 am at Clear Conscience Cafe, 581 Mass Ave, where the owners of the café, Daniel Goldstein and Jack Kutner, will treat volunteers to organic, fair-trade coffee and tea before the clean up begins. From 9am to 11:30, participants will clean; supplies will be provided by the Department of Public Works and by volunteers. For Daniel Goldstein, the cleanup is “a sign of the times and feels like a rebirth of citizenry and businesses to be stakeholders in a clean, well kept square.” After the cleanup, Toscanini’s will host the cleanup team for ice cream.

All are invited to join the effort on Sunday April 25th.

For more information, visit www.centralsquarecambridge.com.

Volunteers go door to door in East Cambridge

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CFL exchange volunteers On Sunday, February 21, eighteen volunteers participated in a community canvass campaign to spread awareness about simple home improvements to save money, energy, and the planet. The event organized by the Home Energy Efficiency Team and the Cambridge Energy Alliance sought to help cut carbon emissions in East Cambridge through a CFL light bulb exchange.

Exchanging incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescents is one of the easiest and effective ways to reduce energy use at home. A compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb. If every Massachusetts household would exchange just one incandescent light bulb to an energy saving CFL, it would save enough energy to light all the homes in Boston for 100 days, reduce greenhouse gas equivalent to removing more than 17,000 cars from the road, and save more than $20 million annually in reduced energy costs.

Volunteers exchanged 129 incandescents bulbs for CFLs, saving over 76,000 lbs of CO2 emissions. Volunteers worked together in teams, offered free energy-efficient CFL light bulbs, initiated dialogue about simple home energy-saving tips, and invited folks to participate in an upcoming Community Weatherization Barnraising on February 28th. The Home Energy Efficiency Team will be weatherizing two houses in East Cambridge. Special guest Andrew Ference—Boston Bruins defenseman and avid climate change activist—will be attending this exciting event and making a donation to the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, one of HEET’s funders.

These type of events go a long way to spreading important information about climate change and energy efficiency solutions to people in our communities who may not otherwise receive it. To learn more information about community barnraisings visit HEET’s website.

Riverside Lightbulb Exchange saves 66 tons of CO2 emissions!

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Riverside Bulb Exchange Volunteers This past Sunday, August 9th, 24 Community members traveled door to door in the Riverside neighborhood of Cambridge distributing free energy efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and efficiency resources to hundreds of homes. These volunteers exchanged a total of Four hundred and forty-two CFL bulbs over the course of four hours, the equivalent of saving 132,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from being emitted into the atmosphere per year. A great Success!

This community event, organized by the Cambridge Energy Alliance (CEA) and the Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) , was held in order to help residents lower their home energy consumption and cut carbon emissions in Cambridge. The HEET organization regularly participates in community barn raising events to help Cambridge residents lower their carbon footprint by implementing efficiency measures in homes with support from volunteers and this Riverside light bulb exchange is a continuation of CEA’s summer canvass program, connecting Cambridge residents to efficiency programs and services. The benefits of this light bulb exchange will stretch further than helping to save the earth- it will help residents save money on their energy bills as well! If a resident were to exchange 20 light bulbs in their home it would save approximately $1,200 dollars over the life span of the bulbs.

The event would not have been possible without the generous donation of the CFL bulbs by TCP, Inc. Metro Pedal Power , a local company that provides delivery services using human powered vehicles, provided for the carbon-free delivery for the CFLs to the Cambridge Community Center, making the light bulb exchange a completely carbon free event! And of course, the event’s success is owed to all of the Cambridge volunteers as well, who donated their time on an extremely hot Sunday to help their neighbors. Volunteers ranged all different ages and canvassing experience levels, and after the canvass, a community party was held at the Cambridge Community Center where they celebrated their outreach efforts together. Among the volunteers were Leland Cheung , and Minka vanBeuzekom , both of whom will be running for Cambridge City Council this coming Fall.

Summer Discovery @ CEA

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Lilah Glick & Alexandra Soto

Lilah Glick & Alexandra Soto

My name is Alexandra Soto, I’m going to be a high school senior in Puerto Rico. I aspire to eventually become a successful, respected, businesswoman. In order to get ahead in my future goals, I decided to appreciate my summer as best as possible. Therefore I enrolled in Summer Discovery at Northeastern University, a high school student’s enrichment program where one can take college credit classes or participate in a summer business internship. I chose the business internship part of the program and had the opportunity to volunteer at the Cambridge Energy Alliance.

The CEA is a non-profit environmental organization, currently working to reduce Cambridge’s carbon footprint.  During the course of my internship I feel that I enriched greatly in matters of social and environmental awareness in addition to learning about business and marketing aspects of a company.

Being more energy efficient does not translate into just using appliances for less time, unplugging them when out of use, and using CFL lights; it’s a greater range of tasks one can perform in simple ways. During the internship, I helped canvass at some of the popular squares in Cambridge and surveyed a few Cambridge residents about their current lifestyle adaptations directed to energy saving. This way I learned that the world is changing and a great amount of citizens are adapting to these changes by doing the best they can in energy efficiency. Cambridge citizens have been insulating their homes, changing their appliances to Energy Star appliances, and adjusting the ways they make their homes more comfortable, in order to help the environment.

I am thankful for my opportunity to work at this internship because the CEA has taught me ways to become a better citizen while engaging in the business world. I saw that the little aspects of a business are actually the foundation for its success. For example, marketing is essential for a business to succeed and through brochures, information packets, and canvassing, a business can reach the public more efficiently. I highly recommend to anyone, to engage in an opportunity like this one because through the small tasks I was able to help with, I also became more compassionate and respectful of people canvassing and promoting information in the streets, because I was able to experience it from the other side.