Wayzata, Maplewood, and Falcon Heights win the 2023 Home Energy Squad Intercity Challenge!
Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) would like to congratulate the 2023 Intercity Home Energy Squad® Challenge winners: Wayzata, Maplewood, and Falcon Heights.
The Intercity Home Energy Squad® Challenge is a collaboration between CEE and over 20 Minnesota cities to challenge residents to have an energy audit through the Home Energy Squad. With an energy audit from the Home Energy Squad, homeowners can take control of and better understand how their home uses energy, creating opportunities to address potential energy efficiency upgrades and discover simple behavior changes to save energy daily.
This a year-long challenge encourages friendly competition between cities to promote the importance of investing in home efficiency. Throughout the Challenge, CEE tracks the number of energy audits and rebate- eligible energy efficiency upgrades completed in each participating city, and the cities with the highest number of visits and rebates per capita are crowned the winners. CEE started hosting this challenge in 2020, and since then the number of participating cities has grown to 25 cities. In 2023, 3,609 homes in the participating cities received a Home Energy Squad visit, 639 of those were for income-qualified households, and 753 rebates were received.
2023 Intercity Challenge Winners
Most Home Energy Squad visits per capita – Wayzata
“Wayzata is excited to be one of the winners for the highest percentage of HES visits in 2023! By prioritizing initiatives like the Home Energy Squad program and a focus on energy efficiency, we not only reduce our carbon footprint but also empower our residents to make informed choices that positively impact their homes and our environment. In a developed city like Wayzata, there is potential for significant energy and cost savings for our residents by completing a Home Energy Squad Visit, which ultimately leads to a more resilient community. We look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts with CEE to make even more positive impacts.” – Nick Kieser, Parks and Environment Planner at Wayzata
Most low-income Home Energy Squad visits per capita – Maplewood
“Maplewood’s climate action plan outlines goals and strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while reducing the energy burden to low-income community members. Partnering with Xcel Energy and the Center for Energy and Environment to promote Home Energy Squad Visits to these communities helps the City meet these goals, while making energy more affordable. Energy efficiency can help provide significant opportunity to address one of the greatest challenges faced by lower-income communities, their monthly energy bill.” – Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner at Maplewood
Most rebates per capita – Falcon Heights
“Energy efficiency is an easy way for residents to work with the city to reach our environmental goals, while increasing their own homes’ resilience and decreasing their electric bills. We are excited to see so many of our residents utilizing the Home Energy Squad to solve energy concerns in their own homes.” – Hannah Lynch, Community Development Coordinator at Falcon Heights
Thank you to all cities who participated in the 2023 Intercity Challenge and congratulations to our winners!
Learn more about Home Energy Squad
About Home Energy Squad
Home Energy Squad is a home energy audit service designed to help customers reduce their energy use. This program is provided by Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy, and delivered through local nonprofit, Center for Energy and Environment. With the Home Energy Squad, residents receive professional installation of energy-efficient products plus, a customized inspection of your home and a detailed report outlining next steps for increased comfort and savings. To qualify for a visit, you must be an Xcel Energy or CenterPoint Energy customer.
About CEE
Center for Energy and Environment is a 501(c)(3) clean energy nonprofit with special expertise in energy efficiency that stretches back 40 years. Complementary focus areas include technical research, program development and implementation, community engagement, policy advocacy, and project financing. Working across homes, businesses, and communities, CEE discovers and deploys the most effective energy solutions to strengthen our economy and improve our environment.
Media Contact
Tim Hanrahan, thanrahan@mncee.org, 612-244-2419