Powerful Neighborhoods—Uniting Energy Saving Strategies in Seattle!

In 2010, Seattle City Light and ECOSS joined forces to bring energy and water saving tools into the homes of Seattle-area residents through their Powerful Neighborhoodsprogram.  The program reached out to seniors, recent immigrant households and low income families who had not yet taken advantage of Seattle City Light’s lighting efficiency programs.  The single-family phase of the project has come to a close, and has thousands of lowered electricity bills to prove its success!  Additionally, Seattle City Light has chosen to continue the program with a shift to multifamily housing.

This household-based project involved installing CFLs and educating individuals about conserving electricity through the use of efficient light bulbs, showerheads and faucet aerators.  ECOSS continued its tradition of multi-cultural outreach by providing this free service in Amharic, English, Spanish, Tigrigna, Vietnamese and 10 other languages!  These trained staff members visited more than 7,500 homes throughout the two year program, and helped educate community members understand ways to “green” their homes and basic water conservation tactics

How many people does it take to screw in 100,000 light bulbs? The team, left to right: Osman, Benito, Ramiro, Satish, Jin, Sophorn, Jackie, Moges

The effects are huge, especially when adding up results of all partners in the program, in addition to ECOSS.  Just ask Seattle City Light who will receive a savings of 13 million kWh for this year alone, enough to serve over 1400 Seattle area homes! This will save participants in the program a combined total of $1.2 million per year on their light bills. A few other impressive numbers include over 10,400 efficient showerheads delivered and over 360,000 energy efficient light bulbs installed from Shoreline south through Burien within more than 20,000 homes in Seattle City Light territory throughout the course of this program.

The report of this successful project boils down to a fairly simple idea: to bring the green movement to the homes of the citizens of Seattle.  However, the efforts and commitment of ECOSS’s staff members should be applauded.  This was no easy task, and the apparent environmental and economic repercussions balance the educational message that saving energy means saving money and uniting our community.

If you or anybody you knows lives, manages, or owns in an apartment building that Seattle City Light provides service to and wants to help save money and save energy with the multi-family program, call ECOSS at 206-767-7004 or email john@ecoss.org.

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