Quality of Life

Neighbors Seek To Reduce Energy Use, Increase Home Values

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published May 12, 2011 at 12:18 PM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

San Diego Neighborhood Could Become Model For National Plan

San Diego's Del Cerro neighborhood could serve as a model for a plan to save energy while creating jobs and increasing home values.

Scott Miller is the brains behind the energy efficiency and conservation plan.

He started working on it in early 2009 with the help of engineers, scientists and financial experts.

Miller said the plan's goal is to create jobs, increase home values conserve energy and utilize renewable energy sources.

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He said the first step is to perform energy audits on the 2,000 homes in Del Cerro, a hilly neighborhood across I-8 from San Diego State University.

"Once we get all those homes assessed we will be able to go through and find the least-efficient homes with the highest energy usage," said Miller. "Those give you the biggest bang for your buck, those give you the highest return on your investment and quickest payback."

He said there are a variety of rebates and incentives for replacing outdated, or energy-hogging systems.

Miller said the combination of rebates and energy savings cuts the costs to homeowners.

"We feel that when we get these homes rolled up, that when the contractors come out there, start making these retrofits, neighbors will say 'what's going on?' and want to become involved," said Miller.

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He said the home energy audits are free. Miller said homeowners just have to fill out a survey.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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