Project Journal

Hey Folks!

So it was once again a successful and very busy summer here at Reduce the Juice. With the help of Orangeville Hydro, we tried something a little different for 2007. Instead of a residential campaign, we decided to target the small business community in Orangeville to Reduce their Juice by focusing on lighting and all the ways they could upgrade to be more efficient and reduce energy while saving money (a big plus for a small business!). We knew it was going to be difficult task, but Phoebe and I were up to the challenge!

Of course to start building our knowledge on all the different kinds of energy efficient lighting out there, we went straight to the group with the most experience: Cool Shops, a project of the Clean Air Foundation. Cools Shops is a project based in Toronto that helps businesses reduce energy consumption and cut utility costs by offering more energy-efficient alternatives. We liked their program so much that we took a day-trip down to Toronto to get trained with these lighting gurus. Stacy, the Project Manager of Cool Shops, told us that the small commercial sector was a difficult one to penetrate, but had total faith in us. With our heads full of knowledge and "bright" ideas, we headed back to Orangeville to launch the program.

Stacy proved to be right in that the business sector was tough to crack. We came across obstacles like rented buildings (where they don't pay the utility bill), business-owners' hectic time schedules, and of course, the upfront costs of doing an energy retrofit. However, with the help of some local businesses, we were able to offer businesses not only a reduced cost of lighting, but also a 50% rebate (up to $1000) off the cost of those lights and installation thanks to Orangeville Hydro. This made a huge difference! Especially after we showed them how much it would improve their bottom line with our handy-dandy energy-audit calculator! PLUS, we changed at least one light bulb to an energy-efficient CFL in every business we visited!

Needless to say, the uptake was very positive. By the end of the summer, we visited 150 businesses, audited 17 businesses, and got 7 businesses to do a complete retrofit. Just to sweeten the pot, we did a draw at the end of the summer for one business and one charity to have their retrofit completely paid for! The winner of the business draw was Studio III Dance, and the charity that won was the Orangeville Food Bank. They were lucky enough to receive 10 new energy-star qualified freezers.

However, it wasn't all "business" and no play for Phoebe and I. We did get a chance to do some pretty cool things along the way. At the beginning of summer, we went to the Energy Expo in Tiverton with our renewable energy trailer for a couple of days and stayed with the University of Waterloo Solar Cart Team. In July, we had the opportunity to go to a Blue Jays game thanks to the OPA, and even got to meet Ace, the Blue Jays Mascot. Attending the Founder's Day Fair in Orangeville is now an RTJ tradition, and this year we gave away free CFLs and solar-powered snow cones from our renewable energy trailer. Lastly, we got to give a couple of presentations to some very smart Town of Orangeville Summer Camp kids at Island Lake Conservation Area, and of course, what's an RTJ a summer without a few Farmer's Market appearances!

All in all, we had a fantastic and successful summer Reducing the Juice! We couldn't have done it without the help of such a great community, project partners and volunteers. We just hope that all the businesses are now a little brighter on the topic of energy efficiency!

Sara Wicks Project Coordinator
Reduce the Juice: Business Conservation Initiative.