Cooperative Living January 2015 - 12

CURRENTS
(Energy-Use)
Survey Says ...
Y
ou may recall receiving an
energy-use survey from your
cooperative in 2013. If you did
and took the time to respond, your co-op
wants to say " thank you, " as the information
is very important for planning.
Another round of surveys will be
mailed in the first half of 2015, and
there's a chance that you may again
receive a request to fill out the survey.
This survey is a key information-gathering
tool for your cooperative. If you do receive
a survey, be assured that the data is
collected anonymously and handled with
complete confidentiality. Once the survey
information is compiled, we tabulate and
run it through statistical analysis. Then we
compare the results to our programs and
service offerings. If and when we find
something missing, not focused just right
or no longer needed, we adjust our efforts
accordingly.
Co-ops across Virginia are participating
in the survey to gather as much energy-use
information as possible in planning to meet
your future energy needs.
In previous surveys, we've learned
that a large majority of members lived in
a single-family, detached home they
owned, between 1,000 and 2,499
square feet, with a crawl space, built
after 1980 with few draftiness issues.
The majority of homes typically have
a heat pump or central AC for cooling
(more have heat pumps than central air),
run the air throughout most of the cooling
season, have and use programmable
thermostats, have electric water
heaters 40 to 60 gallons in size, and
use electricity for their heating needs.
When it comes to hearing from your
co-op, the top four methods, in order of
preference, are bill inserts, Cooperative
Living magazine, your co-op's printed
newsletter and email. Other
communications means including TV,
radio, newspaper, web and social
media were also on
the list but the top
four totaled more
than 90 percent in
terms of preference.
With this level of understanding,
your co-op can focus its resources on
programs and services that are most
applicable to you. The survey helps
us use our resources only in areas
important to you, providing maximum
benefit to the membership.
If you receive the survey,
please take the time to answer it
quickly, completely and accurately.
There will be a comments section at
the end. Please use it to express
your thoughts, ask questions or
provide other input to your
cooperative. If you want a personal
response, please provide your
contact information; otherwise the
anonymity factor prevents us getting
back to you.
And thank you all in advance
for your assistance!
So, what has your co-op
learned from past surveys?
According to the 2013 edition:
* More than 50 percent of respondents feel conserving electricity at home is an economic necessity;
* Nearly 50 percent feel that they can take action to reduce the amount of electricity they use;
* 58 percent are concerned that energy supplies will become scarce in the future;
* 90 percent said they could reduce electric use during peak times;
* And nearly 69 percent feel that it is their duty to conserve in order to protect the environment.
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Cooperative Living/January 2015
ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK

Cooperative Living January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living January 2015