WPBS-TV Announces New Two-Year
Energy Awareness Campaign With NYSERDA
Once again, WPBS TV is partnering with the New
York State Energy Research and Development Authority to further raise awareness of energy
issues in Northern New York.
WPBS-TV and NYSERDA currently share a very
productive relationship. In the summer of 2006, WPBS received funding from NYSERDA
for a multi-faceted two-year campaign that included six television shows under the series
title of “Energy Efficiency: Enhancing Home Performance,” six workshops, a
series of quick tips and promos, a brochure, web support components, and an Energy
Expo. That two-year campaign was recently completed.
WPBS-TV believes that the important work
completed so far has laid the foundation to continue building upon community awareness
under the umbrella “Enhancing Home Performance.” This will give both
WPBS-TV and NYSERDA the opportunity to utilize the existing components created in the
first round of funding and develop enhanced initiatives that will further the mission of
this project.
Our new two-year campaign targets consumers,
contractors, and teachers in our North Country region of New York in a
multi-faceted education and outreach campaign, to include:
Four training videos aimed
at increasing participation among midstream customers such as retailers, contractors and
builders
A Teacher Training
video aimed at teachers and the Energy Smart Students Program. This Teachers
Training Video will be posted online at the Ed Video Online website. This is a
digital online media service that is linked to New York State learning standards and
utilized by teachers and students across New York State.
We’ll Provide a DVD
Copy of the Teacher Training Video to schools in our NY broadcast region (it may also
be made available statewide)
Two Teacher Workshops
for the Teacher Training Video. WPBS will sponsor two
workshops for teachers, based on the Teacher Training Video. The workshops will help
teachers further understand NYSERDA’s Energy Smart Students Program. One
workshop will be held in Jefferson County; the other will be held in Lewis County
One live call-in
sixty-minute program as
part of our WPBS Live! series. Every year, WPBS-TV produces
eight live call-in programs featuring various timely topics of interest to our
viewers. Our January 2009 WPBS Live! Program will discuss New York’s
Energy Smart programs and Energy Star products. A NYSERDA representative will be
asked to participate as an on-camera guest. Other guest(s) may be local NYSERDA
partners.
A 2-minute energy
efficiency video for “Homework Hotline,” broadcast state-wide.
“Homework Hotline” is a program produced by our sister station, WXXI in
Rochester, and broadcast Monday through Thursday, live at 5:30 pm each evening, to all PBS
stations. The program allows students to call in for help with their homework
problems, and features short video segments on various topics of interest. All PBS
stations in New York contribute to it. We will produce a two-minute segment, targeted to
kids of in grades 5 to 12 that will explore energy efficiency, the impacts of energy use,
and some actions they can take to make a difference.
10 ENERGY STAR®
Product Information Tips. WPBS-TV will produce a
series of 10 “ENERGY STAR® Product Information Tips” highlighting the
energy-saving features and benefits of ENERGY STAR® labeled products and appliances, such
as refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers, computers, computer peripherals, TVs,
stereos, furnaces, air conditioners, and lighting. These Information Tips will be
placed on a DVD in a loop that retail stores can play inside their stores. It will
give information to consumers who are in the store looking at buying those specific
products. They will range from 30 seconds to 1 minute in
length.
Make available a DVD
of our previously-produced 6 “Energy Efficiency: Enhancing Home
Performance” NYSERDA shows, along with an information booklet, to local libraries and
the Northern New York Builders Exchange, and to anyone who would like to purchase a copy
A Statewide Marketing
Campaign to offer our 6 “Energy Efficiency: Enhancing Home Performance” TV
programs to PBS stations throughout New York State, through the newly-formed statewide PBS
Interconnect System. Unlike commercial stations, which can make material locally
produced available on their stations only via their local broadcast area and cable reach,
New York PBS stations have a history of collaborating with each other, and can now easily
transfer material back and forth.
Include Energy Tips
and ENERGY STAR® information as well as project information in general in our
monthly program guide, “Insights,” which has a monthly distribution of
7,000. Each month, WPBS-TV produces a 19-page printed
program guide that is mailed to our members.
Our second “Energy
Smart Expo,” in September 2009, targeted specifically to contractors, builders,
and homeowners, which will include a competition of high school and college
students in engineering and technical programs to come up with energy efficiency
ideas. The Energy Expo we held in March 2008 was a rousing success, and we’re
looking forward to holding our next Energy Expo! The
Energy Smart Expo will be a WPBS Station Event. Vendors will include home builders,
building supply companies, energy supply companies, and retail outlets and will feature ENERGY
STAR® products and services. NYSERDA partners will be
encouraged to participate as vendors. The Expo will be held on a Saturday.
Attendees would include residential and business consumers interested in energy efficient
homes and businesses, and ways to reduce their current energy consumption. Attendees
will come away with practical ideas to incorporate into existing and new homes and
businesses. They’ll also have an opportunity to see ENERGY STAR® products and ask questions.
WPBS Website
Component: Our
website, wpbstv.org, is one of the most visited sites in the
North Country, with over 12,000 unique visits per month. We will continue to offer
links to the GetEnergySmart.org
website and to the 1-877-NY-SMART hotline, as well as information about our NYSERDA
project, television show air dates, and Energy Expo information. In addition, people
will be able to download our series of Quick Tips, already produced. We’ll also
add our ENERGY STAR® Product Information Tips and the “Homework Hotline” piece.
In 2006 - 2008, the New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority (NYSERDA)
sponsored a two-year, multifaceted campaign with WPBS-TV to educate consumers on the
benefits of energy efficiency and the residential New York Energy $martSM programs. As part of that campaign, WPBS-TV produced 6 television
programs under the banner "Energy Efficiency: Enhances Home Performance." These
will be made available on DVD beginning in February 2009.
Call for air dates.
Program 1: "ENERGY STAR® Products and Home Energy Tips” More Info
Program 2: "Home Symptoms and Building Science” More Info
Program 3: "Home Performance With ENERGY STAR®” More Info
Program 4: "Doing Business With NYSERDA” More Info
Program 5: "New York ENERGY STAR® Labeled Homes” More Info
Program 6: "Advance and Alternative Energy
Technologies"
Program 6 will premiere on WPBS-TV in January 2009 as part
of ENERGY AWARENESS MONTH. Check back for exact dates.
More Info
WPBS has produced a series of six documentaries, under the banner title
“Energy Efficiency: Enhancing Home Performance,” that focuses on a variety of
energy-related topics. Read Press Release |
