20 questions that will help decide New Castle’s energy future

Moerschell with Jon Arneth (left), a senior intern at the Millwood Water Treatment Plant
The survey is easy and quick. Click here to find it.
May 22, 2009
by Christine Yeres

The town government was able to measure its own energy usage very handily, but that left the habits of 17,500 people in 6,000 households to take into account to correctly calculate New Castle’s carbon footprint. The town administration has set a goal of reducing New Castle’s carbon footprint by 20% by 2015. But it needs information from residents about their energy use in order to design a local action plan for reduction.

So Deputy Commissioner of Public Works Gerard Moerschell obtained 2000 census data to get a rough picture of the lifestyle and energy use patterns of New Castle residents. With that data in hand, the next step, he said, is to capture residential energy figures “because individual responses will help verify and fine tune our macro findings.”

Want to help? It’s easy and quick

So far only about 250 New Castle households have taken the survey. Moerschell is willing to settle for obtaining real data from only 10% of the town’s 6000 households, or 350 more responses. There are only 20 questions, fewer if you have few or no vehicles, and some immediate online help is available for the math, at Con Ed’s My Account. All you have to do is type in your account number, without the dashes, to see your records. 

“We suspected that the computer models and the census data might not be directly applicable to actual usage by our residents,” Moerschell explained. “Once we get this additional data and tabulate it in Excel spreadsheets, we can sort by house size and zoning areas and see if that agrees with our macro look.” 

Once Moerschell produces a report on the community’s energy usage, the next step will be to work with the town’s volunteer Sustainability Advisory Board to provide practical advice on how residents can reduce carbon emissions. Town government will continue to model good behavior, looking for vehicles with greater fuel efficiency, undertaking professional building energy audits, asking questions such as “What’s the payback time for changing to double glazed windows?”

Kids have taken the lead

“So far, kids have been boosting the completion of the survey,” reported Moerschell. “Some teachers have made the survey an optional homework assignment. At the high school, Silent Earth has been getting their members and friends to take the survey.”  The survey is available by clicking here, or on the town’s website, mynewcastle.org.