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The Vermont Community Foundation Helps Local Nonprofits “Unplug” To Save Money

Tuesday June 29, 2010

    On July 1, 2010 the Vermont Community Foundation will kick off a second round of Middlebury Unplugged, a unique program that provides participants with energy monitors to help them manage and reduce their utility bills. The monitors update every second, and information is fed to a computer where staff members can view their energy use from that day, the past week, or even the past few months. Fourteen Middlebury businesses participated in the pilot program this past winter, and six Addison County nonprofit organizations will be taking part this round, including Middlebury Community House, HOPE, and Mary Johnson Children’s Center (Middlebury); Common Ground Center (Starksboro); Middlebury Cooperative Nursery (East Middlebury); and North Branch School (Ripton).

    In addition to receiving the monitors, participants will work with volunteers from the Middlebury Energy Committee, who will perform comprehensive walkthroughs at each of the organizations. The volunteers, trained by Efficiency Vermont, will provide sample materials such as light bulbs and power strips, as well as Do-It-Yourself recommendations and information on rebates and incentives from Efficiency Vermont. The participants will also come together monthly to share their successes and challenges and to learn from others doing efficiency work around the state.

    “I wholeheartedly welcome this program, which we are implementing at one of our residential properties,” says Jeanne Montross, the executive director of HOPE (formerly ACCAG). “Not only is it important for us to save money by avoiding needless energy use, it is imperative for our planet. I see Middlebury Unplugged as a significant opportunity for education that hopefully will lead to behavioral changes and increased responsibility in the use of natural resources.”

    Saving energy isn’t the only benefit that program coordinators Ruthie Schwab and Alex Braunstein have in mind—they are hopeful that the social message of the project will be understood as well: “We recognize that every dollar a nonprofit saves in operating costs is another resource it can put back into the people and programs that make our communities thrive.” For more information on Middlebury Unplugged, visit www.vermontcf.org/middunplugged

    The Vermont Community Foundation is funding the project with a grant from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. For more information on the Vermont Agency of Natural Resource’s Vermont Community Climate Change Grant Program that funded this project, please visit http://www.anr.state.vt.us/air/Planning/htm/ClimateChangeApp.htm

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