CUB supporters supply great photos for Clean Energy Action Month contest--and one lucky participant wins a gift card!

Paul, CUB giveaway winner

Congratulations to Paul from LaGrange for being randomly selected to win a $100 gift card as part of CUB’s Clean Energy Action Month photo contest. “I’m surprised!” Paul exclaimed.

And thanks to all the CUB supporter who gave us great photos.

In honor of Clean Energy Action Month, CUB held the contest throughout the month of October. We asked CUB supporters to take a photo of themselves or family members with a clean energy item–anything from super-efficient light bulbs to solar panels to wind turbines. (We promised to randomly select one entrant to win a gift card to a home-improvement store on Nov. 1–and that’s how Paul won.)

CUB urged people to be creative and have fun–and Paul took the guidance to heart, sending along a lightbulb joke with the snapshot of himself and a new LED. “How many Psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?” he wrote. “Only one, but the bulb must want to change!”

As a retired auditor for the Illinois State Board of Education, Paul told CUB: “I came to understand the value and importance of the thankless job of ‘watching the store.’ (Seems everybody wants accountability, but nobody wants to be checked.)”

When he retired, Paul said he headed up his AFSCME union’s local “retiree sub-chapter” and often invited CUB speakers to give helpful, money-saving tips at their meetings. “In a world where we so often find we have problems we can’t do anything about, the Citizens Utility Board is an idea that let’s any of us participate in helping our state government tackle the huge job of providing the necessary regulating of useful monopolies,” Paul wrote. “Some believe that only ‘the Market’ can do this, but this idea throws away the economies of scale that well regulated utilities provide.”

Not everyone could win a gift card, like Paul, but CUB’s communications team bestowed some of our own awards on the gallery of photos we received.

Most Creative Use of Photoshop Award: Jim from Berwyn.

Jim sent in a drone photo of the solar system he had installed four years ago through a group-buy program that CUB promotes. He used Photoshop to insert himself, with walking staff, on the roof, overlooking his panels. “Not sure if that’s acceptable,” Jim writes, “but that would be the only way you would get me up on a roof. (I’m a really ‘scardy cat’ when it comes to heights!)” (Note: We bent the rules and accepted your submission. We commend you on your entertaining use of Photoshop. The CUB staff got a big kick out of your photo!)

Jim adds that he takes the “environment and trying to do good for it seriously.” In fact, he looks forward to using Inflation Reduction Act rebates to replace his 30-year-old gas water heater with an electric hybrid heater, and he is considering getting a heat pump HVAC system as well as a heat pump clothes dryer. “If I could do that, then I could SHUT OFF my GAS service, which would be awesome!” he writes. He’d also like to add more solar panels to his current system. Carry on, Jim. Good work!

The Future is Bright Award: Mike from Chicago

This is no photoshop work–these workers are actually up on the roof! Mike sent a photo recording the progress of his new solar installation in late August on Chicago’s northside. “Picture shows some panels installed and the mounting rails used to secure them to the roof,” Mike writes. “Installation is now complete and producing about 50 kilowatt-hours per day.”

CUB congratulates you on your new solar installation, Mike. Thanks for the photo!

Cutest Photo Award: Connie and Michael from Warrenville

Connie and Michael write that they added solar panels to the roof of their barn in 2017. Because the barn’s panels are so close to the house, they are efficiently providing about 60 percent of the power needed for their small home. “They (the panels) have already paid for themselves and are now saving money for us every month on our electric bill,” Connie wrote. “We also have water barrels on several of our gutters and solar power dries our clothes for the most part as I hang them on the line.

Michael says they installed the panels to save money and contribute to clean energy–“but mostly to secure a better planet for our grandchildren and their future generations.” The photo shows their grandson Kalvis, whose father is a rooftop solar installer!

The Clean Energy is Cool Award: Bob from Wheaton

Bob submitted this photo of him standing next to a sleek, candy-apple red electric vehicle (EV): a Ford Mustang Mach E. He was invited to attend the Chicagoland Automobile Association’s test drive for EVs in Oak Brook Terrace. “I test drove several EV models!” he writes. “I wanted to find out how EV’s operated on typical roads and traffic since I had never done so before this opportunity.”

He test drove the Ford Mustang as well as EVs from Chevrolet, Hyundai and Cadillac. A few observations: “The first thing I noticed is that all EV’s are extremely quiet, so much so that the Ford agent had to tell me that the display icon was on, meaning the car was running! I couldn’t feel it!” he writes.

He also noticed the enlarged dashboard displays the size of a small tablet, which recorded the number of miles left to recharge and the distance to the next available charging station. “This data was updated continuously as I drove,” Bob writes. (He wonders if the dashboard info can be condensed or minimized to prevent it from being a distraction to drivers.)

His experience brought up a lot of good questions about increasing EV range, home-charging costs and incentives. (These are questions we’ve tackled in CUB’s EV Buyer’s Handbook. “Overall, I enjoyed my EV test driving experience and I learned what the EV manufacturing explosion is all about,” Bob writes.

Most Beautiful Photo Award: Bill from Villa Grove

Bill sent us this gorgeous photo of a wind farm at sunset, north of Newman. Clean energy IS beautiful! Bill tells us he’s the foreman of the “systems and controls” electricians at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Energy distribution and energy performance and savings are what we do on a daily basis,” he writes. Keep up the good work, Bill, and thanks for the great photo!

We end with this beautiful image–but we want to thank everyone for their photos, as well as their interest in working for consumer protections, clean energy and lower utility bills.

Blog

CUB supporters supply great photos for Clean Energy Action Month contest–and one lucky participant wins a gift card!

About

Connect With CUB

Address

CUB supporters supply great photos for Clean Energy Action Month contest–and one lucky participant wins a gift card!