Lindsey Hardy Joins The Environmental Center, Goes to DC

Lindsey Hardy joined The Environmental Center last week to lead our new Clean Energy Challenge Program.

We are thrilled to have Lindsey on our staff team. She comes to us with substantial experience in outreach and education in the solar industry and in energy efficiency. She’s also been very active in our local green community, with the High Desert Chapter of the Cascadia Green Building Council, the Green+Solar Home Tour, and here at The Environmental Center, where she served as our volunteer Green Drinks Coordinator and secretary of our Board of Directors.

Lindsey’s task is to design and launch our new Clean Energy Challenge program, part of The Environmental Center’s committment to reduce our local carbon footprint. Climate change is the global-local issue of our day. With little leadership at the national and international level, local communities must take charge.

Energy is a huge source of carbon emissions—we need to reduce what we use and shift to renewable sources. The Clean Energy Challenge will reduce our community’s carbon footprint by reducing local energy use and increasing local energy generation from solar and other renewable sources.

To jump start the Clean Energy Challenge, we’re sending Lindsey to Washington, DC, next week. She’ll be there to learn how Bend can participate in–dare we say win?–a national competition to reduce energy use in small to medium sized cities across the US. The winning community will take home $5 million to invest in sustainaing their local energy efficiency efforts.

Watch our Facebook page for posts about Lindsey’s adventure in DC and on this web site and in our e-newsletter for more information about the Clean Energy Challenge.