July Alternative Transportation, RMP Brown Bag: 7/1/09

Greetings SITLA Energy Thinkers:

Challenge of the Month:
Today, July 1, marks the beginning of our Alternative Transportation Challenge. Alternative forms of transportation include; Bus, Trax, Carpool, Bicycle, Walking & Telecommute. For the month of July, keep track of your alternative transportation miles saved and enter into our biweekly drawing for an energy prize. Winners will be posted on this blog in the comming weeks, so check back soon. Employees at the main office: Fill out a form each day you use alternative transportation and drop it in the labeled container located by Alice at the front desk. Employees at branch offices: Send an email to Swallace@utah.gov (Sonja Wallace) with your name and the miles traveled each day you commute and Sonja will fill out the form for you.

Brown-Bag of the Month:
Each month we will be holding a themed energy brown-bag lunch event to educate each of you on different strategies and ideas of how to conserve energy & increase energy efficiency at work & at home. July's theme is Air Conditioning. A cooling system is one of the biggest energy guzzlers in your home (second only to your heating system). Join us Thursday, July 16 @ noon, in the large 6th floor conference room, for our first guest speaker. Greg Noyes, with Rocky Mountain Power, will discuss energy efficiency, rebates and conservation tips. Please RSVP so we know who to expect...treats may be provided.

*** Note: If we have interest from the field offices we can set up a video conference to allow you all to join in. Please contact Jessica or Sonja to arrange this.

SITLA thinkENERGY! Suggestions:
Many SITLA staff members have express interest in a need for bike rack. We are currently looking into options and possibly working with Boyer to purchase one for the building, but in the meantime we offer this solution; On the 2nd floor of the parking garage there is a no-parking zone (it overlooks the east exit of the 1st level), the railing in this area can be used as a secure* place to lock you bike. (*SITLA is not responsible for stolen bikes).

Do you know.....
Do you know what the difference between energy conservation & energy efficiency?
Two main ways to save energy are energy conservation & energy efficiency. Many people think these terms mean the same thing but they are different.

Energy conservation is any behavior that results in the use of less energy. Turning the lights off when you leave the room and recycling aluminum cans are both ways of conserving energy.

Energy efficiency is the use of technology that requires less energy to perform the same function. A compact fluorescent light bulb that uses less energy than an incandescent bulb to produce the same amount of light is an example of energy efficiency. The decision to replace an incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb is an example of energy conservation.

Each and everyone of us is capable of adopting both energy conservation and efficiency into our daily lives! Challenge yourself to become BOTH!