{"id":444,"date":"2010-06-04T10:36:15","date_gmt":"2010-06-04T15:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/?p=444"},"modified":"2010-09-29T16:20:15","modified_gmt":"2010-09-29T21:20:15","slug":"part-1-10-challenge-success-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/part-1-10-challenge-success-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1: 10% Challenge Success Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Green Needham member takes 10% Challenge, finds new motivation and needed support to make dream of greener home a reality.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the first in this series of success stories, Bill Okerman\u2019s experience resonates with those who have the firm desire to live in greener homes, but might lack the information and services to help them follow through.\u00a0\u201cI had been one of those people who was intending to do these things all along,\u201d Okerman explained. \u201cI had always been generally aware of the things that had been out there, but through Green Needham I became much more educated in terms of knowing where to go to get the services that would enable me to actually do it.”<\/span>
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Before undertaking Green Needham\u2019s challenge to cut his home energy consumption, Okerman had already switched to fluorescent lighting, installed an energy-efficient air conditioning system in his home, and opted for an energy-efficient gas burner when his old one stopped working. When he became aware of Green Needham\u2019s initiatives and the resources available to help him further reduce his home energy consumption, Okerman recognized a great opportunity to continue and broaden his efforts to live green.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think Green Needham was a real catalyst for getting me to take action,\u201d Okerman said. \u201cI was pretty well-informed, but the organization gave me the motivation to just go ahead and do it.\u201d Okerman’s success story began when he contacted Next Step Living, a home energy audit company that participates in Green Needham’s Home Energy Efficiency Improvement seminars<\/a>.\u00a0While environmental concerns were his principal motivation, Okerman was also aware of the rebates and tax credits available through the process, an added incentive for pursuing a greener home environment. \u201cNext Step Living took care of all the paper work associated with the rebates,\u201d Okerman noted; indeed, he eventually received a check for $2,000 in rebates from NSTAR.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Improvements to Okerman\u2019s home were implemented based upon the results of the audit. Next Step Living provided him with a proposal of energy-saving changes to be made to his home, which included cellulose insulation in his attic. Cellulose insulation, one of the most environmentally-friendly insulation options available, uses cellulose \u2013 material composed of 75-85% recycled fiber paper such as newsprint \u2013 to improve the thermal performance of home insulation.<\/strong> As a result, homeowners like Okerman reap multiple environmental benefits from cellulose insulation, as they employ a more sustainable, recycled product while gaining better quality thermal regulation, sound insulation, mold control, and fire retardation. As Okerman explained, \u201cWith the cellulose insulation, the house maintains its temperature longer, so we can use less energy to warm and cool our house.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Okerman hasn\u2019t yet done detailed calculations to determine his ultimate energy savings from the recent insulation installation, the process and completion of the project serve as proof and confirmation of his successful efforts to take Green Needham\u2019s challenge to heart. Okerman\u2019s commitment to making large-scale changes in his family\u2019s energy habits was already there – and with the help of Next Step Living and Green Needham, the often-intangible dream of creating a greener home became a fea<\/strong>sible reality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okerman also noted that his previous home improvements are already proving beneficial. \u201cThe new energy-efficient burner has been a tremendous savings, and the aesthetics of a quieter air conditioning system are amazing,\u201d he said. Okerman recommends audits from Next Step Living, and Green Needham\u2019s 10% Challenge, to anyone who wants to finally forge ahead in their plans to reduce their home energy consumption. He advised other prospective participants that, \u201cIf you\u2019re already predisposed and tuned into the energy efficiency issue, it\u2019s not too hard, especially with an organization like Green Needham, to just get it done.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n


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Green Needham\u2019s 10% Challenge is an ongoing project that began in January 2009 \u2013 and over 450 households had taken the challenge to reduce their home energy consumption by 10% by the end of our spring campaign that June. As part of our 2010 campaign to reach 1,000 households, those who have successfully undertaken Green Needham\u2019s challenge to cut their energy consumption have agreed to share their stories with us.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Green Needham member takes 10% Challenge, finds new motivation and needed support to make dream of greener home a reality. As the first in this series of success stories, Bill Okerman\u2019s experience resonates with those who have the firm desire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,21,4,9],"tags":[148,50],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10percent","category-energy-at-home","category-green-needham","category-incentives","tag-green-needham","tag-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}