From The Decatur Minute blog…

We are proud to announce that the Decatur Heights neighborhood has won the Kilowatt Crackdown. With 13 participants, and 3,500 kilowatt hours saved, this group was able to reduce their usage by 20%! This is certainly an amazing accomplishment, and one worth celebrating.

Of the users that signed up for the challenge and successfully linked their Georgia Power accounts to Earth Aid, Decatur saw a 1.46% reduction in electricity usage, representing an overall decrease of 1,800 kilowatt hours. That is enough energy to run your air conditioner 24 hours a day for over 2 months. During the competition, some users saved more than others. Among users that decreased their usage, the reduction was almost 12,000 kilowatt hours, resulting in a $15 savings per month on each household’s bill.

For their efforts, the Decatur Heights has won a neighborhood block party, which will be held in the coming months.

The City of Decatur and the Environmental Sustainability Board’s latest resident competition, the “Kilowatt Crackdown“, started last Friday October 1st.  Residents who sign up, will compete with other other Decatur neighborhoods to see which neighborhood group of participants can curtail their energy consumption vs. last year.  The winning “neighborhood” gets an “eco-friendly block party” thrown by the city.

However, as of right now, it seems that only three of the designated “neighborhoods” have the minimum 10 participants to compete.

From the city’s Facebook page…

Participants Signed Up as Of 10-1-10

• College Heights = 2
• Decatur Heights = 10
• Downtown Decatur = 0
• Great Lakes = 16
• Lennox Place = 5
• MAK = 2
• Oakhurst = 11
• Ponce de Leon Court = 8
• Village Walk = 2
• Westchester = 1
• Winnona Park = 6

TOTAL = 63

According to the city, you can still sign up at www.earthaid.net/Decatur.  The contest runs through the end of November.  So I think I’m going to do it and boost my neighborhood’s total up to 2.   Not everyone has to do this, but I say we at least try and make it interesting!