Canvassing 3/30/12

Yesterday, kelly, Dayana, Enrique, and I went out for our first day of canvassing.. Woohooo ! I was pretty excited even though I was a bit nervous about speaking in spanish to others. The weather was beautiful and we were able to go walking where we had to canvass. We started our tour from the Rutger Student Center and walked down by Joyce Kilmer Ave. Dayana and I were rehearsing the canvassing rap in Spanish in which we would use to explain to the people of New Brunswick. As we went knocking door by door, we basically introduced ourselves, stated that we work to increase energy efficiency in the community, and we wanted to give them a few helpful tips on ways in which they can both save energy and some money. Our main goal was to try to get people to sign the energy pledge and interested in having their houses weatherized. In order to do this we emphasized that what we do is totally free, and informed them of the simple things that we do so that they would know. We got to about 15 houses and got 1 family to accept to have their homes weatherized. We'll be going out next friday as well in hopes of reaching out to the community even further!

More Canvassing Materials

Energy Trivia!

(1)  What percentage of the coal that is burnt reaches the consumer as electricity?

a.       Only one third (33.3%) of the energy in burning coal reaches the consumer as electricity.

(2)  Although not on, what percentage of energy does a household appliance use if still plugged in?

a.       40%

(3)  When you turn on an incandescent light bulb, what percent of the electricity used is turned into light?

a.       10% --the other 90% is lost as heat. A compact fluorescent light bulb uses 75 percent less energy than a regular bulb and it can last up to 10 times longer.

(4)  What is one of the top sources of methane emissions?

a.       Cows! Their flatulents release an inordinate amount of CH4 into our atmosphere

(5)  Can you name 3 types of renewable energy?

a.       Any variation of:  Solar, Wind, Hydropower, Geothermal, Biofuel, Biomass

** Did you know…?  According to the American Solar Energy Society, enough sunlight falls on the earth's surface each minute to meet world energy demand for an entire year

**Did you know…?  One mature tree on the south side of your house provides as much summer cooling as five midsized air-conditioners.

Canvassing Materials

Tips to Help You Save Money & Energy

v  Turn water heater down to 120°

v  Take shorter, cooler showers

v  Unplug electronics when not in use

v  Carpool/bus/trains or walk

v  Use CFL (swirly) light bulbs

Did You Know?

Coal takes a million years to create and therefore it belongs to non-renewable energy sources.

www.energyservicecorps.org/new-jersey

“Green the Greeks” Weekend - A success!

Saturday March 3,2012 and Sunday March 4, 2012, Energy Service Corp had two very busy days of weatherization's, both of which were a total success.

They weatherized 5 frat houses and 9 other houses, giving them a total of 14 houses that weekend.

Good job guys and keep the change coming!

Rutgers Energy Cafe

A while back Energy Service Corp held a presentation for the Energy Cafe at the Busch Campus Center in which a group of us went to speak of what NJPIRG's Energy Service Corp is all about. We discussed some of the problems involving energy as well as the financial problems, and why there's a need for change. We also talked about our services of free weatherization and about community education and K-12.

This week we should finally be able to start canvassing and going out into the New Brunswick community to help educate and inform residents on ways they can save energy. If all goes as planned, we should be going out this Friday March 30 from about 1:30-4pm. I'm really excited to finally get started and really just going out to the community and trying to make a change. Sadly there's not many bilingual interns that can help, but anyone who speaks Spanish is more than welcome to come and canvas. I started looking into some research on federal and state grants available to NJ residents, in which many might not be aware of that can help them tremendously. So much help is offered to residents in New Jersey, but language is always a barrier. I hope that I can break this wall and really provide and change the lives of many residents in New Brunswick, and save them some cash as well.

NJPIRGs Energy Service Corps 12th Annual Education Week

Days:3

Volunteers: 34

Cities: 3 

Schools: 8

K-12 Students Taught: 1,670

Over the past week 39 college students and AmeriCorps members gave up their spring breaks to travel to Newark, Trenton, and Atlantic City to educate K-12 students on clean energy and easy solutions to our energy crisis. These amazing volunteers and AmeriCorps members educated 1,670 students in 92 classes at 8 schools!