What is driving people to save 6,114,618,823 kilowatt-hours of electricity and eliminate 10,428,501,023 lbs. of greenhouse gases from the environment? The ENERGY STAR Pledge. By emphasizing the collective power of individual actions and providing educational resources to help people take action at home, at work and in their community the ENERGY STAR Pledge has united 2,870,785 individuals. Are you uniting the communities you serve through a pledge program? If not, here are a few reasons why pledge programs, like the ENERGY STAR Pledge, are beneficial for investor-owned, cooperative and municipal utilities.
Unite the Communities You Serve
Pledge programs work by emphasizing the collective power of individual actions. Sometimes saving the environment seems overwhelming, while making small behavior changes to reduce your environmental impact often feel insignificant. Pledge programs encourage individuals to make a small change within the context of a group or their community, making that small energy saving action more significant and meaningful in relation to the group.
Pledge programs drive participation and motivate behavior change by utilizing group dynamics. Individuals are influenced by the actions and behaviors of others. If you friends, neighbors, classmates or co-workers pledge to take energy efficiency action, then you are more likely to take the pledge and take action yourself.
Pledge programs provide investor-owned, cooperative and municipal utilities with data points that speak directly to the impact of their energy efficiency behavior change, program and education results. Beyond outreach and program results, pledge programs unite the energy efficiency actions of neighbors, businesses and organizations to community-wide environmental benefits. Unite the communities you serve through an energy efficiency pledge program!
Start The Energy Efficiency Conversation
Promoting pledge programs at community events, schools, libraries and community centers naturally starts the energy efficiency conversation. Utilize group dynamics to motivate people to learn more about the energy efficiency programs and educational resources available to them.
Starting the energy efficiency conversation with the individuals, households and communities you serve can be difficult. Pledge programs start the conversation, are easy to understand, give people a reason to take action and motivate people to look into energy efficiency programs and resources.
Educate and Motivate Households, Businesses and Organizations
People won’t take energy efficiency action on their own; you must educate and motivate them to take action. For most people there needs to be a benefit or incentive to adopt energy efficient behavior change, provide educational resources and energy efficient incentives with your pledge program.
Households are a unique energy education challenge, multiple people, varying ages and a variety of reasons to take energy efficiency action. Pledge programs allow every member of a household to join the effort by signing up to take energy efficiency action. In addition, pledge programs have the power to start the energy efficiency conversation amongst household members, motivating households to discuss their energy use and adopt energy efficient behaviors and changes relevant to their home.
Businesses can benefit from energy savings through pledge programs that promote company-wide energy efficient behavior change. Pledge programs encourage collaboration amongst co-workers to reduce energy use and environmental impact. Utilities have the opportunity to support local businesses through energy pledge programs, helping businesses of all sizes save energy and money, while reducing their environmental impact.
Support schools, libraries and community organizations by providing community outreach and energy efficiency education programs to the communities they serve. Promote friendly, community competition through pledge program competitions. Implement a competition between schools, libraries or community organizations to drive pledge participation, while motivating energy efficiency education and energy efficient behavior change.
You Don’t Need to Reinvent the Wheel, ENERGY STAR Resources for Pledge Drivers
Does the design, implementation and tracking of an energy efficiency pledge program seem overwhelming and time consuming? Don’t worry, you don’t need to start from scratch the ENERGY STAR Pledge program supports pledge drivers with informative resources, online tools, participation tracking and measurable results. In addition to supporting pledge drivers, the ENERGY STAR Pledge benefits from the brand recognition of the ENERGY STAR program, more than 80% of American households recognize the ENERGY STAR label.
Looking to implement a pledge or event marketing program? Energy Resources has implemented more than 250 events and workshops, with program sign-ups and pledge programs, for utility clients in the last three years. We design, implement and track event, outreach and education programs with a clear return on investment and measureable results for utilities of all sizes. Contact us at energy@energyresourcesmn.com to develop education and outreach programs that meet the requirements of regulatory agencies, while educating the communities you serve to promote behavior change and improve energy efficiency.
Learn more about Energy Resources and our Event & Outreach Marketing Services
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