Net zero buildings and saving energy: The secret is in the message

How do you make energy efficiency more “sexy?” According to this award winning video produced by a team of Humphrey School of Public Affairs students, little things like online dashboards with graphics to show real time energy use or thermostats that combine modern, trendy design with functionality will help make the concept of energy efficiency more appealing to homeowners and motivate them to use less energy. The video, titled Energy Efficiency to Net Zero Feasibility in Minnesota, won Grand Prize at the 2013 Sustainability Symposium sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment.

Buildings–including homes and offices–consume almost 40 percent of energy used in the United States and contribute to almost 40 percent of the carbon emissions that we produce. Net zero refers to buildings that generate as much energy as they consume. A case study is the Science House at the Science Museum of Minnesota, which is featured in the video. The students’ goal was to determine whether net zero is feasible in Minnesota.

“We concluded that net zero is great goal, but it’s a lot more practical to begin with energy efficiency because there’s a lot that we haven’t done there yet,” says Julia Eagles (MPP ’12), who narrated the video. “We call it the low-hanging fruit of the efficiency world. There are thousands of homes in Minneapolis that don’t have sufficient insulation and air sealing. Fixing that and switching to energy-efficient light bulbs makes a big difference without getting into more expensive improvements like installing a new furnace.”

Eagles produced the five-minute video with Humphrey School students Jamie Fitzke (MPP ’12) and architecture student Matthew Santori (MPP ’10). The project, originally completed for Associate Professor Elizabeth Wilson’s fall 2012 Energy and Environmental Policy class, also included a research paper and policy brief, requiring the students to communicate the same issue to three different audiences. The video format created new opportunities to incorporate visual story-telling tools, helping students broaden and strengthen valuable communication skills.

“At the Humphrey School, there is a lot of emphasis on clear, direct communication and how to distill topics down to their main messages, which is a valuable skill for many types of work,” says Eagles, who is interested in doing sustainability work. “It’s about figuring out what the hook is.”

In this case, the hook was finding ways to make energy efficiency “sexy.” And, the judges agreed.