Tough Decision Ahead for Energy Challenge Judges
(Originally published on Campbell River Website)
Watch the Energy Challenge videos on YouTube
After 30 days of conserving energy and sharing their journey with the rest of the community, five Campbell River families have finished BC’s first home energy video challenge. And now comes the tough part as judges decide which family will win the $1,500 grand prize for a home energy retrofit.
The Power Down Campbell River home energy video challenge began on April 6 and wrapped up on May 4. The Bellwood-Behan, Klein, Loeb, Millward, and Seldon families fought to lower their energy bills and capture the funniest video footage during their 30-day energy conservation journey.
Over the next three weeks, judges from BC Hydro, Shaw TV, 97.3 the Eagle, 99.7 the River and City Green Solutions will review the video footage. They will judge each family’s efforts based on the entertainment value of their video footage and the amount of energy saved. Only one family will win the grand prize of $1,500 towards a home energy retrofit of their choice.
“It’s going to be a very tough decision for the judges to pick one winner,” says Amy van den Hooven, the City’s Energy Challenge Coordinator.“Every family has gone above and beyond our expectations. They all drastically lowered their energy consumption and captured very entertaining video footage.”
Some project highlights that families completed during the challenge included a homemade solar oven, a bike blender and a solar shower. Families also got the community involved in the Energy Challenge by organizing a community walk and encouraging people to turn their lights off on Earth Day, interviewing Campbell River energy heroes and bringing a neighbourhood together to sing about energy conservation.
Each family also lowered their energy consumption by making simple habit changes, like turning lights off, hanging clothes to dry, taking shorter showers and unplugging electric devices not in use. Some participants also completed affordable retrofits to make their homes more energy efficient such as insulating windows and attics and blocking air leaks.
“This challenge showed us that we can live comfortably and still save energy,”says Paul Klein, one of the energy challenge participants. “I think that if our family can make changes to save energy, any family can.
Read full story here.
(Read Terratek's background story on the Family Energy Challenge here.)
