Sustainable Jersey – Elihu Dietz – 2017

Goals

Sustainable Jersey provides tools, training and financial incentives to support communities as they pursue sustainability programs. The program culminates in a certification award to municipalities and schools that have documented meeting a set of rigorous standards. Middletown Township, Atlantic Highlands School District and Rumson School District wanted a better understanding of their current energy use as well as how to take advantage of state programs that help finance projects. Middletown had completed an energy audit and made some equipment upgrades five years before, but both school districts were just beginning their engagement with Sustainable Jersey and the certification program. EDF Climate Corps fellow Elihu Dietz was brought in to help secure their certification.  

Solutions

To begin, Dietz collected energy billing data by interviewing business administrators, principals and facilities staff to measure current energy use. He then identified finance strategies for new projects and applied for free Local Government Energy Audits from the NJ Clean Energy Program.

Middletown Township: Dietz brought stakeholders together to share information on municipal vehicles so that the township could establish a baseline carbon footprint and begin to plan for a more efficient fleet. Working with their Green Team, which is made up of township staff and volunteers, they formed a working group to develop a marketing campaign and set a goal of getting at least 5% of local businesses to take advantage of a state incentive program, Direct Install.

Atlantic Highlands and Rumson School Districts: All of the schools in the Rumson School District and one school in the Atlantic Highlands School District completed their applications for Sustainable Jersey certification. Rumson has applied to a year-long energy education grant to train middle-school students in energy education through the PowerSave Schools program sponsored by New Jersey Natural Gas. Facilities managers were also trained on how to access energy data online and use tools to easily measure and weather-normalize future consumption.

Potential Impact

Elihu identified projects across all three clients with a combined value of $1.5 million in lifetime electricity savings resulting in 380 metric tons of CO2 emissions reductions. In Middletown, he established a model of forming a staff-led, volunteer-driven working group that has empowered residents and business owners to play an active role in the Township’s sustainability efforts. With bronze certification, the schools in the Atlantic Highlands and Rumson school districts join a community of hundreds of other sustainable schools in the state, getting better access to Sustainable Jersey grants and leadership opportunities.