The Carbon Cafeteria at the Cool Davis Festival 2012 offers many practical ways to lose pounds of CO2 emissions during the year beginning with small steps to major expenditures.

Vote today to help Cool Davis win the $5,000 Community Challenge Grant.  Vote at Yolo Federal Credit Union through August 31.  Competition with four other great local non-profits is stiff, so every vote for Cool Davis matters!

Climate change is real, and it’s already happening. The average temperature rise of 0.8 degrees Celsius has already caused far more damage than scientists expected, such as the current drought across the Midwest. If we hope to live on a stable and vibrant planet, then we must act now.

But what can one person in Davis possibly do? Cool Davis has some answers. Your vote will help fund three Cool Davis projects explained below.

Begin at Home

Fortunately, effective change begins at home, where 31% of our Davis carbon footprint is attributable to household energy and consumption. Lowering our collective greenhouse gas emissions in Davis is a significant step with multiple benefits.

Cool Davis is mobilizing the One Cool City campaign to inspire 75% of Davis households to embark on a series of home improvement and lifestyle changes to implement our Davis Climate Action Plan. Along the way, residents will increase household energy efficiency, save money, improve health, and discover the rewards of a lower carbon lifestyle.

Case Studies

Take a family living in an older home built before rigorous energy efficiency standards were adopted. How can they pay retrofit costs now when they need to save for their children’s college expenses?

Or, consider that over 50% of our residents are renters who often feel helpless to reduce their impact or their energy costs. Cool Davis is committed to offering CO2-reducing solutions for all Davis residents. Here’s how.

1.  For Renters

We have just completed a model of an apartment with a brochure identifying strategies a renter can take to reduce energy consumption in each room. The strategies are easy to implement and often cost nothing. Better yet, they save money on bills! The grant money would help us to get the brochures into the hands of renters.

2.  Retrofit Ideas: Quick, Modest, Big Ticket

We have developed a comprehensive “Carbon Cafeteria” for the Cool Davis Festival covering a full range of retrofit ideas with the actual materials on hand and experts available to discuss them. The range of retrofits includes:

• Quick fixes (light bulbs, low flow shower heads & timers, smart power strips, clotheslines, etc.)

• Modest investments (insulation, on-demand hot water and recirculation pumps, sola tubes, Energy Saver appliances, etc.)

• Big ticket upgrades (solar PV, window replacements, reflective roofs, etc.)

It’s time to take the show on the road to neighborhood schools and churches so more folks can browse the displays for solutions that suit their needs. The grant money would allow us to prepare and finance the mobile Carbon Cafeteria.

3.  Model Retrofit house on wheels

We are building a Mobile LiteHouse. This exemplary 6 x 10 foot home on a trailer bed will demonstrate do-it-yourself, low-cost techniques to retrofit and remodel older homes with blown-in insulation, double-pane windows, a grey-water system, a bread box hot water system, a reflective roof, efficient lighting and more.

The grant would allow us to develop handouts on retrofits for specific types of homes and resources available locally. Additionally, the grant would help us get the Mobile LiteHouse out and about in the community.

With your vote, these projects will soon reach out to the community and help us reduce our greenhouse gas emisssions even as we improve the quality of life for all.

> Vote now for Cool Davis