Clean Energy Durham’s Program Launched in Wilson, NC!

The City of Wilson is now the third community outside Durham to launch a neighbor-to-neighbor energy-saving program using Clean Energy Durham’s training and materials.

Over a dozen City of Wilson and community representatives gathered on September 5^th for training from Clean Energy Durham in how to build and sustain a successful neighbor-to-neighbor energy-saving program using Clean Energy Durham’s new set of manuals and templates for community leaders and individual volunteers.

Clean Energy Durham has re-branded its program for beyond Durham as Pete Street™, with the tag line, Where Neighbors Get Energy Savings™.  “Pete” represents a guy or gal who has energy knowledge to share with neighbors.  The name allows for playful terms used in the program, which is based on a “learn, do, teach” approach.  Examples include Energy PrePete™ (learn), Energy Pete™ (do), Energy RePete™ (teach), and Elite Pete™ (take the advanced training).  Wilson is calling its program the Pete Street ™ Energy Savings Program for Wilson.

Drenda Carpenter, an Administrative Secretary for the City of Wilson, will play a key role in coordinating volunteers involved in the Wilson program.  She was clearly excited after the training session.  “I’m looking forward to putting this in action,” she said.  “The training was great!  There were fun and laughs plus learning.  A lot of work was put into this for us.”

Other training participants echoed Drenda’s enthusiasm.  Participants were asked for feedback after the training session, and the questions included “How confident do you feel in your ability to succeed in your role in this program?” and “What is your current level of enthusiasm for this program?”  On a scale of 1 to 5, the average of the responses was 4.6 on both questions.  They are ready and raring to go!