Oak Ridge Today

MORE2 provides much-needed home energy improvements to Oak Ridge home

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

MORE2 logo

Submitted

Oak Ridge resident Peggy Brummett is just one of many happy participants in the MORE2 Program offered in our community and she urges others to apply.

“I would highly recommend this to anyone!” Brummett said in a recent interview. “I don’t understand why there aren’t a whole lot more Oak Ridgers applying. It’s made a huge difference in our home.”

Brummett applied for the MORE2 program, hoping it would help with her utility bills and, more importantly, with her peace of mind.

“I can now sleep better knowing I can rely on our heat or air conditioning and knowing it won’t cost us so much in the future,” Brummett said. “And as a bonus, there is less dust in our house.”

She suspected her old heating, ventilation, and air conditioner (HVAC) wasn’t working effectively, and her utility bills were proof she was correct. Her home was losing a great deal of costly energy due to air leakage, inadequate insulation, and the poorly working HVAC unit.

At no cost, the MORE2 Program provided a new HVAC unit, new insulated ductwork, and performed air sealing throughout the home. Brummett is recently retired from a large retail establishment in Oak Ridge, where she worked in customer service. Having worked in customer service, she knows good service when she sees it and commented on the program. [Read more…]

ADFAC celebrates 30 years with city, ORUD

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

ADFAC Board Member, Cande Seay (left), presenting a 30th Birthday cake to the ORUD employees including (L-R) Polli Wright, Ben Andrews, Emily Rios, Raeshell Maples, Sasha Benjamin, David Bunch and Jeff Patterson.

ADFAC Board Member Cande Seay (left), presents a 30th birthday cake to ORUD employees, including, from left to right, Polli Wright, Ben Andrews, Emily Rios, Raeshell Maples, Sasha Benjamin, David Bunch, and Jeff Patterson. (Submitted photo)

 

ADFAC (Aid To Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties Inc.) is celebrating its 30th birthday all year long, a press release said. Birthday cakes will be delivered throughout the community to partners who have helped in the mission of helping neighbors be as self-sufficient as possible, the press release said.

Jane Palmer, ADFAC’s 30th chairperson, said: “It’s just our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the community for 30 years of supporting us. And who doesn’t love cake? It’s a great way for us to not only say thank you but to spread the word about the great work going on at ADFAC.”

Most recently, ADFAC representatives visited all four utility companies that serve ADFAC’s service area including Oak Ridge Utility District, Oak Ridge Electric Department, Clinton Utilities Board, and Powell-Clinch Utility Board. ADFAC presented cakes to these groups as a way to say thank you for the many years of supporting Project SAFE and Project ASSIST, the press release said. [Read more…]

MORE2 helping Oak Ridger save money on utility bills

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

holmes-new-hvac

New HVAC for Mike Holmes (Submitted photo)

 

Make Oak Ridge Energy Efficient, or MORE2, is making great changes for some Oak Ridge residents. “Saving money” was the response of a recent participant as the most important—and his favorite part—of MORE2.

Saving energy, which can lower utility bills, is one of the primary goals of MORE2, a program funded by the Tennessee Valley Authority that kicked off in April and began retrofitting the homes of qualified Oak Ridge residents with no-cost energy upgrades, such as new HVAC and water heating units.

“My favorite part of this program is saving money, followed by how professional everyone was,” said Mike Holmes, a truck driver who recently retired early due to medical challenges. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge receives $2.9 million grant from TVA for Energy Makeover

Posted at
By 43 Comments

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

The City of Oak Ridge has been selected for a $2.9 million grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority that will “undoubtedly change the lives of people living in legacy Oak Ridge homes by helping them save money on their utility bills,” officials said Friday.

This grant is part of TVA’s Extreme Energy Makeover project and will allow the start of an unprecedented revitalization of the legacy homes in the Oak Ridge community and provide assistance to those that need it the most, a press release said.

“The City of Oak Ridge is honored to be selected for participation and award for use in the Extreme Energy Makeover program, which will be used to encourage use of the legacy housing of the city when it was a ‘Secret City,’” City Manager Mark Watson said. “This investment will demonstrate our housing’s continued value for residents for years to come. As historical housing, our demonstration project has shown that electrical usage can be substantially reduced creating a ‘win-win’ for our residents, TVA, and the Oak Ridge electrical system alike. We look forward to the challenge and partnership with TVA to become a model for the entire TVA service region.” [Read more…]

Startup company licenses ORNL tool that will help consumers lower energy bills

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Fiveworks Licenses ORNL Technology

Knoxville-based Fiveworx has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology called CoNNECT that will help consumers reduce their utility bills by analyzing their home energy usage. CoNNECT inventors (from left) Olufemi Omitaomu and Budhendra Bhaduri talk with Fiveworx CEO Patrick Hunt. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Knoxville-based Fiveworx has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology that will help consumers reduce their utility bills by analyzing their home energy usage.

The ORNL technology, called Citizen Engagement for Energy Efficient Communities (CoNNECT), enables utility customers to easily monitor their energy consumption in a user-friendly Web-based platform. Fiveworx will apply the CoNNECT tool toward its mission to help utilities increase participation in their energy efficiency programs while reducing their marketing costs.

“Our goal is to motivate consumers to do five or more things to save money on their utility bills,” said Fiveworx CEO Patrick Hunt. “By combining principles of behavioral economics, consumer segmentation, big data, and predictive analytics, we help utilities give their customers a truly personalized energy savings plan that they’ll embrace and use to adopt energy efficient measures and behaviors.” [Read more…]

Oak Ridge warns of high energy bills

Posted at
By 38 Comments

Submitted

The Oak Ridge Electric Department is warning its customers to expect higher utility bills for the next two months. According to Jack Suggs, Oak Ridge electric director, bills for power used in December are now in the mail, and bills for January will be coming out in a few weeks. He expects these bills will be difficult for many customers.

The National Weather Service calculates an index called “degree days of heating,” which is used as an indication of how cold the weather is over the course of a month. The higher the value of the number, the greater difference between the outside temperature and a properly heated home.

“Higher degree days of heating means that the heating system in a customer’s home has to work harder to keep the home warm,” Suggs said. December 2013 had nearly twice the degree days of heating as November, and January is looking to be significantly higher than that. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge officials warn of utility billing scam

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge officials on Wednesday warned of a utility bill scam happening in the area.

In the scam, a customer receives a call from a person claiming to be from the utility calling about missed payments, a press release said. The caller threatens to cut off utilities unless payment is made immediately.

In some cases, the caller will accept a credit card number, bank routing and account number, or other payment information on the phone, while in others an accomplice will appear at the customer’s door to collect the payment. [Read more…]