Community Energy Outreach in West Orange, New Jersey

To address the issue of high energy bills due to poor energy efficiency, the Energy Outreach program through Sustainable Jersey is working to promote energy efficiency incentives specifically with low and moderate income citizens in West Orange, New Jersey. This will benefit citizens by reducing their energy costs and it will be done by using community outreach. There is a list of pantries, churches and other local organizations that can be used to promote energy efficiency to their community. They will be informed on the Comfort Partners Program through a PowerPoint Presentation at their next town meeting. The Comfort Partners Program has a variety of helpful information on how citizens can reduce their energy consumption. They offer a program that allows a specialist to come to their home and inspect and point out various ways that they can reduce energy consumption. This is important for low and moderate income groups because if their energy bills are lower they can focus their already limited funds on other, possibly more important, items. By using community outreach, information can be spread about the opportunities and incentives for reducing energy consumption. Discussing at town meetings and providing information to local organizations to share with their customers is a sure way of spreading awareness about the program and energy efficiency. The expected outcome is that low and moderate income citizens of West Orange become more educated on the necessity of energy efficiency and the ways that they can manage their energy in their homes in order to reduce energy costs. It is expected that once residents are well informed and are taking the steps to reduce their energy consumption, that they will have a safer, healthier and more comfortable home.