By Tom Crawford | Thurston Climate Action Team Board President

In early September, Thurston Climate Action Team, with support from the Emerald Cities Collaborative, conducted two workshops to develop the outlines of a design that can be used in funding proposals for clean energy in our region’s residential buildings.  These workshops involved individuals with a wide range of knowledge and interest in energy efficiency and renewable energy for residential buildings, including folks working with Habitat for Humanity, the local Community Action Council, the state’s Department of Commerce, the Northwest Eco-Building Guild, TRPC, the City of Olympia, the Shift Zero Alliance, Climate Solutions and the City of Bellingham.  The results of these workshops included the following:

• notes on existing services in the Thurston region along with lessons learned from the experience of Washington State’s Community Energy Efficiency Programs;
• a list of objectives and questions to be addressed by pilot projects;
• a prioritized list of program goals
• a list of needed services and which providers currently address them, or could in the future

TCAT will next distribute these results to workshop participants, and start refining them into a format that can be shared with policymakers and used for funding proposals.  We will also continue working with these agencies and organizations to coordinate and expand energy efficiency and other clean energy services throughout Thurston County.  For more information about this effort, contact our Executive Director, Melinda Hughes at.