HUNTSVILLE UTILITIES NEWS RELEASE November 13, 2014 – 4:00 PM City of Huntsville Submits Plan to Georgetown University In Pursuit of $5M Energy Prize The Georgetown University Energy Prize, a $5 million incentive competition to reduce America’s energy consumption, announced a list of 52 communities including Huntsville that have been selected to submit plans to compete for the prize. The competition challenges local government to work together with utilities, schools and residents to develop and implement plans for innovative, replicable, and scalable programs that lead to sizable reductions in residential homes and municipal properties’ energy consumption from the local natural gas and electric utility. Huntsville Utilities is partnering with the City of Huntsville and Huntsville City Schools to develop a city-wide energy efficiency and upgrade plan. The business community is engaged through Energy Huntsville, an energy technology economic development effort began in 2011 as a mayoral-led initiative. The City’s plan was submitted on November 10th and is one of 52 plans being considered for the semifinals. The semifinal competition will commence in January 2015. “Communities will be competing against themselves” said Joy McKee, who is spearheading the team working on the plan. “The winning city will be the one that reduces its energy use the most during 2015 and 2016 from its benchmark years in 2013 and 2014.” When asked why a utility would want to help reduce energy use, Jay Stowe, Huntsville Utilities CEO, stated that “Reducing energy waste in our homes, schools and offices is one of the most economical solutions to meeting the community’s growing demand for energy in the future.” “Helping reduce waste in the city schools and the municipal buildings is part of being a good steward of public funds” said Mayor Battle, “and helping our citizens with energy efficiency upgrades improves the overall quality of life for our residents.” Over the summer, each of the 52 communities overcame a substantial hurdle to make it into this final stage of the Competition. All had to assemble a team, outline a plan, and secure signed commitments of collaboration from their local government, electric and natural gas utilities, and a community based organization. “The enthusiasm in these communities is contagious,” said Dr. Francis Slakey, Executive Director of the Prize. “This is the first time so many governments, utilities, and community groups will be working together to reduce energy consumption.” Huntsville is one of several southeastern cities along with Chattanooga, Knoxville and Winter Park, FL, to advance in the competition. To learn more about the Georgetown University Energy Prize and to track the competition’s progress, visit guep.org, or follow the Prize on Twitter (@GUEnergyPrize).
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 21:58:31 +0000