On Magical Moments.
As most of our clients know, we are a new company just over a year old now and launched at a time of national economic hardship. Unfortunately, we are also in an industry saturated with cynical companies who see”green” and “renewable energy” as simply another marketing campaign to capitalize on. You don’t need to go any farther than some of your local “Green Home” tours which feature 5,000sf homes boasting of energy star appliances and some form of low VOC recycled paint as their only qualifying features. When was the last time you bought an appliance that wasn’t energy star?? Nonetheless, we take heart every time we meet other professionals in the industry who are truly committed to improving the way we use energy.
As with most new companies, we also work long hours covering the many roles larger companies can afford to pay several people to do and these past several weeks have been particularly busy with training, submitting new bids, interviewing and hiring and participating in the recently launched Chapel Hill-Carrboro energy efficiency program named “WISE“.
A few weeks ago now, Chapel Hill and Carrboro jointly unveiled their new energy efficiency incentive program at the Century Center to an eager audience of people from as far away as Raleigh and Pittsboro. By all accounts, the launch was a success and we enjoyed the many conversations with home owners, business owners and other service providers and vendors. It was a room full of people interested in creative and practical solutions to reducing the amount of energy we all use. Topics discussed included new control systems for appliances, the benefits of net metering vs buy all sell all solar plans, the payback on solar hot water systems, the purpose of energy audits, Renewable Portfolio Standards and new construction techniques and building materials. It was both enlightening and heartening to see how informed our customers are and very exciting to see a room full of companies with innovative ideas who are providing legitimate services to their customers. Sometimes we just need to step back a little in order to find the good among the noise.
At the end of the event, we headed home with a renewed sense of optimism for the future, some new friends and new clients. That evening turned out to be a beautiful spring evening as we capped off the day with a glass of wine on the porch and played with the kids. Buoyed by our day with the Chapel Hill WISE program and watching the kids run around the yard, it was easy to forget the stresses of work, the challenges we face and the fears we carry with us about the uncertain future facing our children. For a few moments at least, I felt like our kids running around, without a care in the world.
We all deserve some magical moments.
