Through this competition, small- and medium-sized communities (populations between 5,000 and 250,000) will be challenged to work together with their local governments and utilities in order to develop and begin implementing plans for innovative, replicable, scalable and continual reductions in the per capita energy consumed from local natural gas and electric utilities.
The highest-ranking community will be awarded first place. Its local government will receive a $5 million award. Second and third place will also be awarded; these additional winners will receive special recognition and additional benefits, which may include cash purses.
For this competition, a “community” is defined geographically by the limits of a municipality—a town, city, or county that has corporate status and local government. All small-to-medium municipalities in the United States with populations between 5,000 and 250,000 are eligible to apply.
The Georgetown University Energy Prize is a competition in which communities will be challenged to work together with their local governments and utilities to develop and begin implementing plans for innovative, replicable, scalable, and continual reductions in the per-capita energy consumed from local natural gas and electric utilities. Participating communities will be asked to develop a long-term energy efficiency plan and to demonstrate initial effectiveness and sustainability over a two-year period. Participating communities will benefit from access to various resources, and the winning community will receive $5 million, which will help to support its continuing community-based energy efficiency efforts. Interested communities are encouraged to submit a nonbinding letter of intent as soon as possible.
Participating communities will be asked to develop a long-term energy efficiency plan and to demonstrate initial effectiveness and sustainability over a two-year period. Communities will be judged in part on their ability to:
- Spur innovative approaches for communities to decrease their per-capita energy usage;
- Highlight best practices for communities working with utilities, businesses, and their local governments to create and implement inventive plans for sustained energy efficiency;
- Educate the public and engage students in energy efficiency issues including methods, benefits, and the environmental costs of the full fuel cycle;
- Increase the visibility of Georgetown University and competition sponsors who are working to facilitate new and creative approaches to energy efficiency.
