Save Energy, Save Money, Win Prizes & Make New Friends! If you live in North Cedar, Overman Park, or College Hill Partnership areas of


Cedar Falls, you’ve probably heard your neighbors talking up the Cool Neighbors Energy Challenge that started last October. Neighbors are working together to win this friendly challenge to reduce home energy use.


The Cedar Falls and Waterloo


Convention and Visitors Bureaus were both honored by the Iowa Tourism Office for Outstanding Cooperative Partnerships.


This is the first time


such an award was made. Cedar Falls has previously been named the Iowa Tourism Community of the Year (in 2004 and 2009) and in 2005 the University Museums and Sturgis Falls Celebration were both honored as the Attraction and Event of the Year.


Each neighborhood hosts monthly events to learn more about how to reduce


energy use. In November, members of the Cedar Falls Utilities Energy Services team provided information on the energy efficiency rebates for homes. They highlighted adding insulation, purchasing energy efficient appliances, and installing CFL & LED fixtures. CFU staff also interpreted the online thermal image flyover photos for homeowners and offered suggestions for improving home efficiency. In December, all neighborhoods were invited to an energy audit party at a neighbor’s home to see what an audit involves. Homeowners or renters are encouraged to sign up for a CFU energy audit. Tara Wilson-Pickering, an Overman Park neighbor, volunteers to get more


Public Meeting Jan. 12, 5 PM The City Planning Division has been


working with professional planning


consultants, RDG Company from Des Moines, during 2011 developing a new Comprehensive Plan Update for the City’s future development. A Steering Committee made up of 24 citizens has been meeting nearly monthly


since


March, 2011 to help guide development of the Plan. RDG Company staff have met with the City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission several times. The RDG Company consultants will make a final presentation of the Plan on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 5:00 PM at the Cedar Falls Community Center, 528 Main Street (near the public library). The public is welcome to attend. You can review the work to date at the following web site: www.cedarfalls. com/compplan or contact City Planner Marty Ryan at 273-8606 or via e-mail at Marty.ryan@cedarfalls .com


4 | Winter 2012 www.CedarFalls.com


people on Team Overman Park. She’s involved, she says, “because we think this is really important for our kids and we want them to see that we’re doing something about saving energy.” Ann Eastman, another Team Overman Park member, reduced energy in her household significantly several years ago through the Cool Congregations program. Now she says Cool Neighbors is a wake-up call “that there’s more to do! Cool Neighbors helped me make a plan for the next steps we’ll take to save energy in our home.” January Cool Neighbors events will feature students from the Cedar Falls High


Robotics team explaining the benefits of LED lights that use less energy than other lights. In addition, a Green Iowa AmeriCorp member will conduct a weatherization audit at a neighborhood home to show how weather stripping, caulking, insulation, and other measures can make a home tighter and more comfortable in all seasons. Cool Neighbors events will be held monthly through March. The winning neighborhood will earn the grand prize of an Energy Float in the 2012 Sturgis Falls Parade. You can help your neighborhood win the Cool Neighbors Energy Challenge by


participating. Contact your Cool Neighbors volunteer: ■ Overman Park – Tara Wilson Pickering, 504-1869 ■ North Cedar – Mary Smith, 269-7300 ■ College Hill Partnership – Becky Hawbaker, 290-1050


Cool Neighbors is a project of the Center for Energy & Environmental Education


(CEEE) at the University of Northern Iowa and is supported by the City of Cedar Falls, Cedar Falls Utilities and Cool Congregations. For information, contact carole.yates@uni.edu, 273-7599.


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