In the news...

It's always nice to hear about folks working on projects similar to the PLC. It seems like neighbor-to-neighbor energy savings collaboration is really catching on, both across the city and across "the pond". When we first began the PLC, the Project Lightbulb team attended a community meeting where representatives from the Reservoir Hill community in West Baltimore were talking about their very own version of the PLC. A portion of the funding that fuels the Project Lightbulb Challenge--the Community Energy Savers Grant--is also helping to fund a project in Reservoir Hill. Residents were excitedly talking in January about putting up door decals, signs, or in some other way having residents display their energy usage. So it's nice to know that even if the PLC can't reach every neighborhood or block in Baltimore, at least other groups are working toward similar goals. And the whole public display of energy usage seems to be a very hot idea right now.

Check out the link below to learn more about the incredible effect neighborly cooperation and public energy usage display has had on one neighborhood in the U.K.

U.K. Neighborhood Records Its Electricity Use on the Street
http://www.good.is/post/u-k-neighborhood-records-its-electricity-use-on-the-street/

According to the article, after only three weeks, residents reported a 15% drop in energy usage! WOW!! This is very inspiring to all of us at the PLC. I love that they write the block averages right on the street--it is very eye-catching and definitely a constant presence. I'm not sure that the paint they use on the pavement would fly here in Baltimore, but I love that the display is so artistic...it keeps things fun, and helps to beautify the street. At the end of the article, the author actually asks CAN YOU IMAGINE if a movement like this were to take hold in America? CAN YOU IMAGINE if people were using in-home energy display devices to help monitor their energy use? In a few more months, hopefully we'll be able to stop using our imaginations and look at actual charts, graphs, and resident testimonies to learn exactly how using devices and displaying energy usage publicly effects citizen's consumption right here at home.