C3’s Year in Review
As another year comes to a close, we’d like to take this opportunity to express our sincere THANKS to all of you who have made this year so successful. From our Challenge participants (businesses, nonprofits, and households), volunteer coaches, and UVA interns to our board members and community partners, together we ARE making a difference!
In 2018, the Charlottesville Climate Collaborative’s Better Business Challenge and Home Energy Challenge helped the community achieve measurable energy and money savings and reduce climate pollution in our own backyard. Here’s a wrap-up of how we fueled climate action at the local level:
Home Energy Challenge: By the Numbers (as of 12/31/18)
122 tons of CO2 avoided by 121 households
$18,440 dollars saved by households
17,384 kWh saved by households
2,415 gallons of gas saved by households
9,802 gallons of water saved by households
300 actions committed in season one of our Home Energy Challenge
Better Business Challenge: By the Numbers
86 participants joined the third annual Better Business Challenge
15 volunteers lending 1-on-1 help to 10 of our participants
58 average Lunch n’ Learn attendance
26 requests for lighting assessments / 11 planned upgrades (165,000 kWh/year)
11 LEAP commercial assessments completed or in process
(Side note: May 15, 2019 is the “finish line” for the Better Business Challenge, so there’s plenty of time left to take more action. Same for our Home Energy Challenge participants — keep taking action to reduce your impact!)
As mentioned, in 2018, the Better Business Challenge hosted several “Lunch n’ Learns” for our participants (or anyone who wanted to attend!), and covered such topics as “Watt's New in Energy Savings?,” “The Dollars and Sense of Going Solar and Other Pathways to Renewable Energy,” and “Turn on the Savings.”
What’s more, we put the spotlight on several Challenge participants to show off all of the good work they’re doing and to inspire fellow businesses to go the distance. In 2018, we highlighted the City of Charlottesville, Southern Environmental Law Center, Worldstrides, Design Electric, WDP & Associates, and Colonial Nissan. A common thread? Saving energy and money not only does the community good as a business leader – the process of discovering office-wide energy conservation strategies is fun too!
We also covered a range of day-to-day issues relating to climate action, giving residents the tools and inspiration they need to green up their households. We talked about the tax incentives of buying an electric vehicle (the $7,500 federal tax credit sweetens the deal), simple actions you can take to increase your home energy savings, and the increasing affordability of rooftop solar panel system installs. We also demystified LEDs and helped the community understand how to “recycle right,” (with more recycling insights from GreenBlue). And we shared staff takeaways based on C3’s experience going plastic-free for one day.
C3’s interns got in on the action too – read how Michael Bateman offset his summer air travel and why Sofya Olenicheva believes that making sustainable lifestyle choices can be a user-friendly undertaking for anyone.
We’re excited to see what 2019 will bring! Are you?
To keep the momentum going, here are three ways you can continue to support C3's local climate action work in 2019:
Follow our blog full of good news and tips and our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Host a Power Party this January or February and take action as a team to reduce your household carbon footprint.
Donate to fuel our mission and programs!
Thanks again for a fantastic 2018,
The team at C3
