Students Show Adults How it’s Done: Saving Money Through Energy
Awareness
The Awareness for Community Energy (ACE) Program pairs students
and education in an unlikely way in order to accomplish great things
in the field of energy conservation.
Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI), created the ACE program in
response to a growing need for energy education in underserved
markets. Through experience in the ACE program, SEI discovered
that young people, education, and energy efficiency make a great
combination, and a wonderful teaching tool.
SEI, established in 1997, is a non-profit organization serving
California communities to empower under-served markets such as
schools, small businesses, and multifamily and affordable housing
to accomplish their energy efficiency goals. SEI designed the ACE
program to serve three Marin County populations simultaneously
in a unique partnership: senior citizens in affordable housing,
small businesses, and elementary and high school students.
The highlight of the ACE program was the creation of a unique
partnership between the students of Mary Silveira Elementary School
and the senior citizens at the Martinelli House, a low-income senior
housing facility in San Rafael. The objectives of this unique partnership
were threefold. One: educating the students about energy efficiency
and training them to be life-long environmental stewards and ambassadors
of energy efficiency within their communities. Two: to teach senior
citizens in affordable housing how to save money on their utility
bills through energy conservation techniques. Three: the creation
of a broader sense of community. The students met with the senior
citizens regularly, linking two very different generations and,
in several cases, creating life-altering relationships between
the students and senior citizens.
One such relationship occurred between a learning disabled senior
citizen at the Martinelli House, and a fifth grade student at Mary
Silveira. The senior has difficulty writing and drawing. By working
with the fifth grader, he produced posters depicting compact fluorescent
lightbulbs and energy saving slogans. He was so proud of his work,
he became the leader of the facility’s energy patrols, and
was able to make a major contribution to the overall energy savings
at the Martinelli House.
The ACE program has reached over 40 high school students, 15 elementary
school students, 50 senior citizens and over 200 small businesses.
The success of the ACE program has resulted in similar models being
implemented in other parts of California and the country. As a
direct result from the program, 12 high school and college students
have gotten jobs within the energy efficiency industry. SEI is
currently updating the ACE program to take environmental ethics
into account and to support the students in seeing themselves as
future environmental leaders.
SEI found that the key to making ACE successful was keeping the
students involved and engaged in each step of the program. The
students were easy to work with, open and eager to learn, and equally
eager to teach their newfound knowledge to others. SEI found that
they worked especially well in a mentoring relationship by pairing
college students with high school seniors or elementary students
with senior citizens. They learned how valuable they were in as
teachers, and that others could benefit from what they had to say.
They formed lasting bonds, in particular with the seniors at the
Martinelli House. Most importantly, through these interactions
the students created a real sense of community, uniting all parties
involved in a common goal of efficiency and savings.
SEI is more than willing to share and help others create ACE’s
successful model for student participation in energy efficiency
programs. A program like ACE would be a wonderful resource for
local governments, and there is a lot of information available
to those interested in creating a similar program. SEI would also
be willing to help facilitate similar programs.
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