7. ECCSR 04-21-2011MEMORANDUM
TO: Energy City Commission
FROM: Ross Pomeroy, MN GreenCorps
DATE: April 20, 201 I
SUBJECT: Project Conserve & Energy Expo Updates
PROJECT CONSERVE
Project Conserve hit the halfway mark on April 1". As part of the program, mid-year data was collected and active
participants were offered progress reports covering the first five months of their time in the program. (Special
thanks to Centexpoint and Connexus fox providing usage data.) Overall, the 104 households surveyed saved 6.0%
on electricity and 2.1% on natural gas. This equals a total savings of 33,248 kWhs of electricity and 978 therms of
natural gas, netting a reduction of over 21,000lbs of C02. Water usage actually increased by 6.5% fox a total of
70,000 gallons. Water conservation had not been previously covered in the workshops and we are expecting this
increase to become a decrease when the irrigation season comes around. Overall, households saved a combined
$4,100 through five months.
Other findings:
-Ten participants saved over 20% on electricity.
-Nine participants saved over 20% on water
-Nine patticipants saved over 10% on natural gas.
-68.3% of members decreased their electrical use.
-We are on target to accomplish our five-year reduction goals fox electricity and natural gas.
-The data is greatly affected by special circumstances only five months in. (vacations, extra occupants, etc.)
ENERGY EXPO
We have been able to collect more information about the Energy Expo since our previous meeting. Please see the
attached budget fox the details.
We also have the results of two surveys regarding the expo. We received eight surveys back from our 32 exhibitors.
The eight that responded gave very positive marks and all but one said that they would be interested in exhibiting at
the next expo. We also received the results of the visitor surveys from the expo. With over 156 responses, we
found that 51.9% of respondents lived outside of Elk River. In addition, 60% of respondents had not attended a
previous expo. This mark could be due to our first time use of BOB FM fox advertising. Expanding to new media
markets and mediums could lead to much higher attendance at future events. Other interesting numbers: 78.7% of
Elk River respondents were aware that Elk River is known as Energy City and 62% were aware of Project Conserve.
Discussion: Considering these results and all of the $/work involved, should we host a 2012 Energy Expo?