By Rebecca Bowe in Vol. 13 / Iss. 31 of Mountain Xpress, February 2007

A volunteer-based community group has partnered with Progress Energy to make its energy-conservation program happen. Jonah Butcher, board chair of the Clean Air Community Trust, is heading up the Energy in a Box program, which came out of last summer’s Design Science Lab.

The idea, says Butcher, was to assemble a basic tool kit that could help people save energy. “We’re looking at things like, if you walked into someone’s home and had an hour, what’s the best thing you could do to save energy? In other words, the really low-hanging fruit,” Butcher explains. Though the group had sufficient interest and volunteer support to implement the program, they lacked funds for materials. Then a light bulb lit up, so to speak, at Progress Energy’s open house on the proposed Woodfin power plant last month.

Margie Meares, another Clean Air Community Trust board member, was discussing demand-side management with a company representative when he presented her with one of Progress Energy’s own energy-saving kits. Each box contains three compact-fluorescent light bulbs, tape for sealing leaky doorways, low-flow faucet aerators to reduce hot water usage, and a list of conservation tips. After meeting with the group, the utility agreed to provide 60 kits and teach volunteers how to use them.

“It was one of those rare moments where preparation and opportunity come together,” says Progress Energy spokesperson Ken Maxwell. “We’re very excited about this project—and that we’re able to roll it out here in Asheville. There’s obviously tremendous interest in the area.” This is one of 12 conservation measures the company plans to test, he says, and it could eventually become an official program to benefit low-income ratepayers and reduce demand.

For now, though, it’s still in a pilot phase. A host of volunteers from local universities, environmental and faith-based groups will target folks who stand to benefit the most from Energy in a Box and work with them to actually use the kits. The overall energy savings from the program will be “just a drop in the bucket,” says Meares. “But there’s no doubt that low-income households pay disproportionately high costs for energy in their homes, and we’ll be helping those individuals. It also helps with overall education about energy conservation.”