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A SUPPLEMENT TO OKLAHOMA LIVING


®


LIVEWIRE MARCH 2013 | VOLUME 64 I SSU E 3 | PUBLISH ED F OR MEMB ERS OF TRI-COUNTY E L ECTRIC COOPE R ATIV E


CEO VIEW BY JACK L. PERKINS, CEO


“switch on” youth to energy efficiency


Getting children involved in saving energy around the house can be a challenge. It’s often difficult enough to motivate them to do chores. The Kids Energy Zone website from Touchstone Energy Cooperatives helps parents engage their children in energy efficiency.


Every cooperative adheres to seven principles established in England in the mid-1800s. Two of those principles are front and center when it comes to Tri-County Electric Cooperative’s support of local schools. “Education, Training, and Information,” the Fifth Cooperative Principle, is one of them. The other is “Concern for Community,” the Seventh Cooperative Principle.


“Education, Training, and Information,” means the cooperative informs young people about the nature and benefits of cooperation. When we present safety demonstrations to schools or host a Co-op Kids Day in the community, we are living out this principle.


Schools often contact businesses for support of their yearbooks, newsletters and sports programs.


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Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives, the brand “ID” of the nation’s not- for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, offers Kids Energy Zone (www.kidsenergyzone.com) featuring a spunky energy efficiency mascot, CFL Charlie. The site is designed to teach children in kindergarten through fifth grade how to be Super Energy Savers in their homes. The Kids Zone also includes interactive games, videos, activity sheets, and surprises.


“The website is all about engagement,” explains Ruben Musca, senior manager of advertising and marketing for Touchstone Energy. “This is a way for parents to interact with children so the family can focus on energy efficiency together, and help everyone develop energy efficient habits that will last a lifetime. Through fun activities, students and their parents learn about energy, electrical safety, and energy savings.”


For example, Lights Out!—an energy- saving game in the Kids Zone— challenges kids to speed through a virtual house, replacing traditional incandescent


lightbulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) and turning off lights and appliances with speed. The less energy a player uses by the time everything’s off, the better the score.


“Playing the Lights Out! game and taking kids through a house with an energy efficiency checklist, which parents can find in the Kids Zone, are great ways to work together to get good habits started,” Musca recommends.


Plug into these resources and more at www.kidsenergyzone.com. n


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