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What Do I Have to Do?
The Energy Finder was designed to be user-friendly. Once you have entered the required information into the Energy Finder, it will generate estimates and city-specific recommendations for ways your community can reduce its energy consumption. The results will be detailed and straightforward, allowing you to move ahead quickly with implementation rather than having to spend time deciphering the results.
How Do I Get Started?
The Energy Finder survey creates a community profile, or scenarios that will help you evaluate your community's energy savings potential. When starting the survey you will enter a step-by-step "data entry" process to collect current and projected data on your community's energy use and physical characteristics. There are eight sections to the survey, each which will require some time to complete. However, you can take your time completing them as the data you enter will be saved as you go from step-to-step. This allows you to do as much work as you want now and return later to pick up where you left off. To get started you will need:
- A computer with Internet access and basic home office software programs, including Adobe Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Excel;
- A team of two or three people working closely with the community's utility providers and town hall or county offices. This team should expect to spend up to a week collecting the survey information;
- To gather information from municipal utilities and local government offices regarding energy prices and usage, development rates and square footage of all commercial, residential, and public buildings in your community.
Based on the data you enter, The Energy Finder performs a series of calculations, and presents you with the potential dollar savings, emissions reductions, and the jobs that can be created by implementing community-wide energy efficiency programs. These results will be presented in a separate "Results" section. (Note: You will need to complete the data entry pages before viewing your results.) After viewing your results you can research different renewable energy solutions and energy efficiency programs to see what would work best for your community.
Information You'll Need to Complete the Survey.
Steps to Using the Energy Finder
- Create a new scenario for your community or view case stories of successful community energy programs;
- Select "View or Edit Data Entry" for your selected scenario;
- Get a copy of "Information You'll Need to Complete the Survey," this is the "shopping list" of all the data you will need to collect before starting the on-line survey;
- Follow the instructions in the data entry pages to input your collected data and collect specifics on your community's energy use and physical characteristics;
- View results for your community;
- Browse through the Energy Efficiency Information and Renewable Energy Information sections to learn how to start and fund your own energy projects (link) and gather information on some of the latest energy efficient and renewable energy technologies.
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