A sustainability program is changing wasteful behaviors in Charlotte, N.C., by doing one simple thing: showing employees exactly how much electricity they’re consuming.
As part of the “smart city” movement harnessing data to drive action, Envision Charlotte installed kiosks with real-time data on energy usage in the lobbies of roughly 60 of the largest office buildings in Charlotte’s central business district, collectively reaching more than 67,000 employees. A first-of-its-kind partnership between public and private groups, the kiosks were installed at no cost, since the program’s two backers — Duke Energy and Cisco — believe they’ll earn $5.3 million in savings from the investment.
“This is an unprecedented plan to align business interests with smart grid technology in a way that can propel Charlotte to the forefront of energy efficiency,” says Michael Regan, the Environmental Defense Fund’s regional energy director. “Envision Charlotte is one of the most forward-thinking projects on the East Coast.”
Since its 2011 launch, the constant reminder has already changed the way employees act, encouraging them to turn off lights or limit air conditioning in unoccupied rooms. “As soon as people start seeing [their consumption levels], you intuitively start thinking about your actions,” says Amy Aussleker, executive director of Envision Charlotte. The program has already resulted in an 8.4 percent drop in energy use, nearly halfway to the Queen City’s goal of a 20 percent reduction by next year.
Up next? Envision Charlotte wants to present more data to office workers, Aussleker says, including sensors in trash cans to weigh pounds of waste produced and water meters to gauge usage — data that researchers will then tie back to emissions of smog-forming pollutants released into the air.
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Tag: Duke Energy
How One County Makes Sure Their Trash Doesn’t Go to Waste
Typically with a trash dump, what goes in never comes out. But that’s not the situation with the Bridgeway Acres Landfill in Pinellas County, Florida.
As the St. Petersburg Tribune reports, for the last few months garbage trucks have removed 13,000 tons of trash from the landfill. Instead of taking up space and releasing dangerous greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, this garbage is taken to a waste-to-energy plant that burns it and then sells the generated electricity to Duke Energy.
MORE: You’ll Never Guess What NYC Is Turning Its Biggest Trash Heap Into
It appears that the economic benefits really do measure up. According to the report, Duke pays the city $30 for every two tons of burned trash which adds up to enough power for roughly 45,000 homes for a day and adds $1 million a month to the county’s pockets.
Don’t get us wrong — recycling trash is definitely better for the environment than burning it. But since this is garbage that’s already there, burning it will actually help free up space for the landfill, which is estimated to be at capacity in 75 years. “That’s the only landfill we have,” Kelsi Oswald, Pinellas waste energy section manager, told the newspaper. “By taking that material back out of the landfill, we save that space for the future.” The plant in question has also met EPA’s standards for air quality, their website boasts.
For these Floridians, one man’s junk is the whole county’s treasure.