State and Local Climate and Energy Program
Energize Corvallis: Community Engagement for Greenhouse Gas Reductions
Corvallis, Oregon
Federal Funding: $491,762
Project Timeline: February 2011 – February 2014
Project Summary
Promoting Community Engagement through Energy Reduction Programs
The City of Corvallis will implement four complementary pilot programs across the City, all designed to promote the city's energy independence and climate change mitigation actions while increasing community involvement in the process. The project, Energize Corvallis, will draw on the expertise of four established institutions to expand, fine tune, and connect successful projects. Using this expertise, the City of Corvallis will:
- implement the City Council's Community Energy Strategy and elements of the Community Sustainability Action Plan,
- expand the Corvallis Environmental Center’s energy efficiency programs including the Communities Take Charge and the Energizers program,
- establish Oregon State University's Benton County Extension Service program, and
- establish the Resource Innovation Group's Green Share program, which works with customers to reduce their energy consumption.
The City of Corvallis will integrate these four programs along with the implementation of City-wide reduction measures. By integrating these plans and programs, Energize Corvallis will provide opportunities for involvement across a broad demographic and spectrum of individual interest. Energize Corvallis emphasizes community involvement and volunteerism to accomplish energy reduction goals.
The suite of programs will offer multiple commitment levels to maximize community members’ willingness and ability to participate. With the lowest level of required engagement, the Kilowatt Cruncher program is a neighborhood-based approach to reducing energy consumption through no-cost and low-cost actions. Energy Corvallis will work with three to four neighborhood associations to establish goals for outreach, program recruitment, and energy reduction. Requiring a higher level of involvement, the Energizers program will train residents to serve as liaisons to specific groups in the community. Each volunteer will create personalized Energize Corvallis outreach materials and messaging for their groups. Also as part of this level of engagement, The Green Share program will offer targeted workshops to employees in the residential energy and water use fields to encourage efficient behaviors from their customers. Finally, the highest level of engagement, the Neighborhood Sustainability Stewards program, is an initiative where participants go through 11-week training classes and learn from local experts on how to implement residential emission reduction activities. The Neighborhood Sustainability Stewards program will be run through the OSU Extension, and the City of Corvallis will support the training of 60 to 75 Neighborhood Sustainability Stewards.
Community residents will benefit directly through cost savings from reduced energy use, and the projects will also increase communication among neighbors, improve the City's resilience to energy price shocks, and increase overall civic engagement in Corvallis.
Community Characteristics
| Population: | 54,890 |
|---|---|
| Area: | 13 square miles |
| Government Type: | City |
| Community Type: | Small Urban |
| Median Household Income: | $35,350 |
Program Results/Estimated Results
| Expected GHG Reductions: | 4469 metric tons CO2e annually |
|---|---|
| Expected Electricity Reductions: | 3.8 million kWh |
| Expected Natural Gas Savings: | 406,000 therms |
| Expected Communities Take Charge participants: | 5,500 |
| Expected Energizers: | 60 to 90 |
| Expected Neighborhood Sustainability Stewards: | 50 |
