Fonds 85-002 - Energy Savers Peterborough fonds

The Energy Savers Peterborough (ESP) was established in May, 1982. It was founded to promote energy conservation in the City and County of Peterborough. ESP was a project that was considered one of-a-kind and was studied by the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Conservation as a way to make communities more energy efficient. It was started in the 1980's due to the wealth of information on energy conservation which was confusing people due to all the different sources and resources. The idea behind ESP was to sort the information out and give it to people at a local level and thereby increase community awareness of energy conservation. In their first year of operation ESP established a storefront in Peterborough Square, on the Corner of Water and Charlotte Streets, where they were able to give free non-partisan advice. They also offered successful workshops for arena and curling rink operators, energy saving seminars to churches, clinics for local media members and fleet operators on how to drive to save gas, a tire-check program and tours of solar-heated homes in the area. ESP helped the local Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) Residential Energy Advisory Program (REAP) establish conservation consciousness in the community. The ESP committee was chaired by Professor Peter Adams of Trent University.