Delta Institute CEO Jean Pogge announced today that Delta is partnering with the City of Chicago, Hispanic Housing Development Corporation (HHDC), Enterprise Community Partners, University of Chicago and Clique Studios on an innovative, six-month pilot designed to help residents in Humboldt Park and Logan Square neighborhoods to track and reduce their energy usage.
The Chicago Neighborhood Energy Challenge, announced by the City of Chicago on November 1, seeks to achieve up to 10% energy savings in electricity, gas, and water. Read the City of Chicago press release.
“Delta Institute is proud of its work to help design this interactive and impactful pilot and is excited to partner with the City to lead trainings and activities with building residents,” Pogge says. “Combining Delta’s deep experience in energy efficiency programming and training with the expertise of our local partners, this project will demonstrate that small changes to energy behaviors can achieve significant environmental benefits while also saving residents money on their monthly utility bills.”
“This pilot is very exciting as it focuses on behavior change,” says Delta Institute Project Manager Vanessa Roanhorse. “The program is really about empowering and educating Chicago residents to engage with energy efficiency and waste consumption in a way that encourages adoption of these behaviors and creates a long lasting impact as well.”
The competition will engage residents in seven multifamily and senior living properties which house approximately 750 residents and over 500 units in Chicago’s Humboldt Park and Logan Square neighborhoods. The building that saves the most energy will win a $25,000 grand prize, which will be reinvested in the property in a manner determined by the winning residents and property manager. The second prize winner will receive $7,500, and the third prize will receive $3,500.
This energy efficiency project aligns with Delta Institute’s work to disrupt the energy status quo by reimagining how we use and value energy resources in the Great Lakes region, and it builds upon Delta’s experience managing residential and commercial energy efficiency programming, including Delta’s residential Weatherization program and the City of Chicago’s Chicago Green Office Challenge.