SNEW Media Kit

Program announcement press release - Feb. 2010 [PDF]
How the program works [PDF]
Frequently Asked Questions [PDF]

Featured Articles

Sierra Outdoor School finds opportunity in Sierra Nevada Energy Watch Program

The Sierra Outdoor School sits at 4,100 feet in the Stanislaus National Forest in the heart of Gold County. Located thirty minutes from the historic town of Sonora and within PG&E territory, the school was recently audited through Sierra Business Council’s implementation of the Sierra Nevada Energy Watch Program.

Backed by the resources of Clovis Unified School District, the mission of the school is to provide an educational experience based on the sciences and to teach respect of the environment, self, and others. The school offers adventure-filled educational opportunities for children and adults, including team building, a high ropes course, wilderness skill training, and activities that bring people closer to nature. The Sierra Outdoor School facility is also available for retreats and conferences, providing an optimum setting for groups to gather.

“A naturalist from Sierra Outdoor School contacted Sierra Nevada Energy Watch to participate in the program. While performing our complimentary audit, I knew Sierra Outdoor School would be able to take advantage of our rebates to improve the energy efficiency of their school and be a great project,” said Emily Williams, Energy Associate with Sierra Business Council.

Many of the Sierra Nevada Energy Watch installations are performed at highly reduced costs to participating small businesses. Rebates are also offered through the program for measures such as facet aerators, low flow showerheads, and door gaskets for reach-in and walk-in coolers and freezers.

In the case of Sierra Outdoor School, a rebate of over $14,000 dollars at a total cost to the school of  $3600 enables them to save nearly $13,000 annually. Their return on investment is nearly 250% with payback occurring in just under four months.

“We are excited to be a part of the Sierra Nevada Energy Watch Program because it fits into our mission and curriculum in three ways: it helps to reduce our energy footprint, it provides efficiency and cost savings to our school, and it provides us with another avenue to educate students about resource management,” said Mike Olenchalk, Director of the Sierra Outdoor School in Sonora.

“This makes a huge difference for businesses,” said Sierra Business Council Chief Operating Officer, Greg Jones. “We are able to marry the best of both worlds with our Energy Watch program, bringing economic and environmental interests together.”

Bear Valley Mountain Ski Resort stays on sustainability track, reduces energy usage

Bear Valley Mountain Ski Resort has been established since the late 60’s and continues to support sustainability initiatives in order to keep bringing families to its slopes in the central Sierra. This past summer, Sierra Business Council performed an energy audit and installed energy efficient lighting and refrigeration equipment at the main lodge of the resort. SBC’s team calculated over a $13,000 savings, providing payback on their investment in under six months.

“There was tremendous potential for savings at Bear Valley. We were able to help them out with a mix of lighting retrofits as well as changes to their refrigeration systems,” said Emma Ingebretsen, Energy Associate with Sierra Business Council’s Energy Watch program. “We were really excited to take on this project since the facility was so large and the majority of their lighting hadn’t been updated for quite some time.”

“The benefit of this project is really about being more efficient in our energy use.  The new lighting will reduce our kilowatt usage making this project another important improvement in the resorts efforts to be energy efficient in our operations on mountain and in our lodges,” said Jim Gentling, Bear Valley Resorts, Chief Operating Officer. “Partnering with Sierra Business Council and PG&E made the project seamless and very affordable.”

Bear Valley’s energy efficiency leadership means a lot to the local and regional economy since ski season is in full swing and resorts have the ability to make an impact on visitors and the environment. The resort’s participation demonstrates that the ski industry can thrive while environmental interests are met.

“We hope to work with Bear Valley Ski Resort again in the future,” said Ingebretsen. “There is still some potential to install occupancy sensors, which detect motion in a room, and save energy by automatically turning lights off when the room is empty.”
 
The Sierra Nevada Energy Watch program continues to bring tremendous benefit to the region, delivering over $648,239 of savings to businesses in the Sierra Nevada. For more information about how your business can participate, visit www.sbcouncil.org/energywatch or contact our Sonora office at 209-532-7200.