Anybody who’s seen Colorado winters knows that little things add up. One snowy day is a Christmas card. Several in a row become “How do I get out of my driveway?” 

That’s true for a lot of things. Yards that add up into touchdowns. Savings that add up into Christmas presents. Choruses of “The Little Drummer Boy” that add up to insanity. 

And, of course, it’s true for energy savings. Sometimes in a really big way.

I’ve mentioned our Efficiency Works program here before, which helps Longmont homes and businesses find ways to save both energy and money. We recently added up the totals for 22 of our largest electric customers, each of which had projects of their own: new LED lighting, new chillers, insulation upgrades, and several more besides.

Each individual project added up to a good savings. But when you add 22 companies and organizations worth of “good,” the result is pretty impressive.

As in, 5.2 million-kilowatt-hours-of-energy-saved-every-year impressive.

If energy figures don’t come naturally to you, try this. That’s enough energy to power nearly 650 homes for a year. You could just about light up Berthoud for a month on what’s been saved.

Oh, and by the way – saving that much power is also saving these customers about $410,000 in energy costs a year.

See what I mean?

Most of our homes work on a far smaller scale, of course. But the same principle applies. If each of us saves a little energy – whether with the help of Efficiency Works virtual advising, or some helpful items from the Efficiency Works Store, or even just being careful about leaving lights and computers on – it can add up to a lot of energy saved across Longmont. That’s more sustainable for the community and easier on everyone’s home budget.

So congratulations to the 22.  (I’ve added a list below this blog for those who are curious.) Congratulations as well to everyone who takes the time to use a little less and save a little more. That’s a present that will keep giving back for a long time to come.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better see where I put my snow shovel.

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Thank you to (included by permission):

Avedon Engineering, Inc.; Cambrex Corporation; Centura Health – Longmont United Hospital; Circle Graphics; the City of Longmont; Cushman & Wakefield; Dire Wolf Ventures, LLC; the Federal Aviation Administration, GCC Holding LP; Intrado; King Soopers; Lowe’s; Magno Seed, LLC; NEOTech; Novartis Gene Therapies; Oskar Blues Brewery; Royal Crest Dairy; Safeway; Seagate Technology; the St. Vrain Valley School District; Walmart; and Xilinx, Inc.