2019 Year in Review

December 31, 2019 | Posted In:

Blue Horizons Project 2019 Reflections:

Thank you for being part of our community here in WNC! As the year winds down, we are taking time to reflect on our 2019 work and initiatives. Here are four that we want to share with you. We look forward to what 2020 will bring for clean energy and energy efficiency for everybody in Buncombe County.

1. We shared the work of Blue Horizons Project at 54 community events in 2019. This included interviews, presentations, and tabling. This is a core part of our work – sharing what we know about our region’s energy use and how we can all use less of it and adopt more renewable energy. We are eager to continue spreading the message with more folks – please contact us to present or table at your event by emailing [email protected].

2. We supported and participated in the development and stakeholder engagement of the Asheville and Buncombe County 100% Renewable Energy Plan for the City, County, and Community.

3. With support from the City of Asheville and Duke Energy, we facilitated four Cool Communities sessions with more than 30 total participants in 2019. Here is a summary of one of the groups that met in South Asheville. “We met four times and had three guest speakers on topics ranging from home weatherization to how to get involved with our local democracy. We learned how to calculate our carbon footprints and understand which activities have the greatest impact on the environment. We also had a neighborhood visioning session where we identified actions we’d like to take in the future like providing additional informational sessions on gardening, home maintenance and solar power options. Most importantly neighbors who have been living on the same block for decades got the chance to meet and socialize for the first time!”

4. Blue Horizons Project and McCullough Fellowship Commercial Energy Case Studies: We were lucky to have a UNCA McCullough Fellow, Zane Carroll, join us for several months this year to research and develop two case studies. These profile the Riceville Fire Department and Buncombe County Schools‘ efforts to achieve energy savings through LED lighting retrofits and are great local examples of entities pursuing energy efficiency. These will soon be posted under a new Educational Resources section of our website.

 

We hope to see you in 2020!

If you haven’t already, please visit our website to get involved with energy and money-saving resources and programs and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.