Social Media Can Drive Environmental Goals Forward

Sometimes a picture is worth 200 Twitter follows. That’s what Ceres‘s online communications director, Brian Sant, learned when he ran a campaign to stop natural gas flares in North Dakota. Oil companies use these flares to burn away unwanted natural gas they do not plan to save or sell.

North Dakota’s natural gas flares are visible from the night sky and rival major cities in their brightness. Sant circulated the following photo of the night landscape of North America via social media and email. The response was electric. Writers picked up the story.

A photo from Ceres’s campaign to stop natural gas flares in North Dakota.

Sant showed the results of this campaign at New England Women in Energy and the Environment‘s March 14 panel discussion, Social Media Success in the Energy and Environmental Sectors. He also described how he uses podcasts, videos and infographics to make data attractive for social media distribution.

Sarah Finnie Robinson, founding partner at Practically Green, talked about her exploration of the nuances of behavior change. Working with an enthusiastic group of interns and staff, she develops social software that companies and individuals can use to alter their environmental behavior.

Practically Green is building on the current wave of interest in gamification – making activities more like computer games – and integrating that approach with social media. The resulting product makes conserving water and other resources less like doing a chore and more like using Facebook.

“You’re not alone,” one of Robinson’s slides said. Robinson wants her software to engage people in communication, not just give them tasks to do in isolation. Based on the rapid expansion of demand for her product, this approach is certainly working.

Cindy Jolicoeur, vice president of Marketing Drive, used a different tactic in her work with the Mass Save energy efficiency program. She leveraged consumer interest in sharing information about deals and taking advantage of discounts to build the fan base for the Mass Save Facebook page from around 2,000 to over 15,000. These likes came as a result of targeted promotions and advertising across multiple media. Consumers developed a relationship with Mass Save and used the page to ask questions about energy efficiency.

“People want to connect with people,” said Cindy Hoots, corporate social responsibility account director at Cone Communications. She encouraged the audience to be informal on social media. Being able to respond on the fly is crucial, she said. She recommended keeping an unofficial FAQ on hand to use in response to stakeholder comments.

“Not all these stakeholders are friendly,” Hoots said. “Some can be a thorn in your side. Others may have an activist bent.”

Building relationships with stakeholders is a complex process, Hoots said. First, one needs to identify who they are. Second, one needs to understand their values and priorities. Third, one needs to learn how to reach them. And that’s just the first phase of action. One also needs to prioritize influencers, reach out to them, and offer them resources they want.

Hoots recommended two online tools for identifying influencers: Traackr and SocMetrics. These sites can give one basic information about the behavior of influencers and help one develop a plan for building relationships.

There are many ways communicators can engage stakeholders and build support for sustainable actions. This discussion demonstrated how Twitter, Hootsuite, Facebook, and other social media tools can support energy and environmental organizations in reaching their goals successfully. Sometimes, all it takes is a surprising picture.

Energy Efficiency Researchers Dig into the Deep South

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), where I worked for two years, is delving into questions which are relevant to Southern states and  working-class communities. I support this approach because it’s essential for environmental nonprofits to take on questions that reach beyond the East and West Coasts and outside the Beltway.

The first report showing that ACEEE was pursuing this course of action was the May 2012 publication Opportunity Knocks: Examining Low-Ranking States in Energy Efficiency. These states are mainly located in the Southeast and the northern Great Plains, where lack of awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency often combines with skepticism and an aversion to top-down mandates.

The theme of avoiding government mandates has emerged in ACEEE’s behavioral research. An article from Real Energy Writers reports that ACEEE Behavior and Human Dimensions Program director Susan Mazur-Stommen has been touring the South. She’s been interviewing people about what energy efficiency means in their lives. Her discoveries so far are intriguing. Many of her interviewees are aware of energy efficiency, but are pursuing it independently and not through structured programs.

“People are pursuing green in the South, but they are doing it in their own way. That is one of the messages. They don’t trust the government. They don’t trust their utility. They worry about scams,” Mazur-Stommen said in her interview with journalist Elisa Wood. Mazur-Stommen said that messaging about energy efficiency in the South needs to be customized for regional viewpoints.

Economic opportunity may be a valuable angle. In August, ACEEE published a fact sheet on Energy Efficiency and Economic Opportunity which addresses the importance of designing energy efficiency programs so that they build stable employment in local communities. As the fact sheet says:

At every step of the economic value chain produced by efficiency investments… there are opportunities to target the economic and social benefits to those households, businesses, geographies, or sectors for whom they will make the biggest difference. The results of these choices can include lower costs for low- and moderate-income families and small businesses; opportunities for disadvantaged, local workers to get jobs with good wages; and new and retained economic activity in disinvested communities.

This is a crucial statement. Given the large number of American communities suffering after the recession, it’s absolutely essential for environmental nonprofits to discuss socioeconomic issues.

Working-class communities sometimes include manufactured homes. Mobilizing Energy Efficiency in the Manufactured Housing Sector, a report which ACEEE published in July, broke new ground by charting the potential energy savings in manufactured homes. 

Manufactured houses waste energy as if their owners had money to spare – which they often do not. Builders of manufactured homes focus on cost and have relatively easygoing code requirements. As a result, these homes have high energy bills.

The report says making manufactured housing more energy-efficient could save 40 percent of the total electricity consumption and 33 percent of the total natural gas consumption of these homes between 2011 and 2030.