NJPIRG and AmeriCorps are partnering together to run Energy Service Corps to educate and engage communities around energy efficiency.

AmeriCorps members with Energy Service Corps work to engage students and other community members in increasing energy efficiency. We train college interns and volunteers who organize community workshops, educate community members through door-to-door outreach, perform energy assessments, do simple weatherization and educate thousands of elementary and high school students.

The Problem
We are in an energy crisis – our current use is inefficient and costly – and most of it still comes from dirty sources like coal power plans. This is expensive, leads to public health problems, and causes global warming.  One of the biggest problems is that we literally waste a ton of energy every second of the day.  Old urban buildings are some of the biggest problems; they are like the old gas-guzzlers on the road. They have cracks in the windows, huge drafts under the doorways, little to no insulation in the walls and attics. All the while the furnace is burning inside or the air conditioning is blasting. On top of that we leave our electronics plugged in all day long and they use energy every second even when they aren’t in use.

The Opportunity
We all want to make our homes warmer and lower our electric bills, but for most of us, doing so seems out of reach and costly.  The reality is there are actually a lot of opportunities right now to make our buildings more efficient – especially for low-income residents who need it the most. There are state and federal funds that most people don’t know even know about.  And there are simple things that everybody can do in their homes to save energy and money. About 30% of energy use in all buildings can be cut just by doing these simple things. The Recovery Act recently granted 50 billion dollars toward weatherizing our buildings and here in NJ the state set a goal of upgrading 300,000 buildings a year.

The Solution
So we’ll be tackling the problem by literally stopping our energy from going out the window and taking the mystery out of energy efficiency.

This semester, we’ll be working hard to:

•    Teach thousands of kids across the state fun lessons about energy and the environment.
•    Perform basic energy assessments in buildings to let people know how much energy and money they can save.
•    Educate thousands of community members by organizing community workshops to teach homeowners how to do simple things around the house.
•    We’ll be knocking on doors to distribute information, and getting neighbors together through house parties.
•    We’ll be working with the community to actually weatherize homes and buildings by caulking windows, installing insulation, wrapping the hot water pipes with foam, and sealing up cracks
We're looking for people to get involved at all different levels. 

To find out more about our internships or volunteer opportunities email: sarahm@njpirgstudents.org.