New Web site helps communities pursue economic development

Citation

(2004), "New Web site helps communities pursue economic development", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 5 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe.2004.24905cab.001

New Web site helps communities pursue economic development

Snowmass, Colorado, USA, 8 March 2004 – Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) announces the launch of the Community Energy Opportunity Finder, an interactive Web site that calculates potential energy and dollar savings, air pollution emissions reductions, and potential jobs a community could create by implementing an energy efficiency program.

“Economic development professionals tend to focus exclusively on recruiting new businesses,” said Michael Kinsley, founder of RMI’s Community Services team. “Most simply don’t know that there are business development and job creation opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy.” The Finder will give community members or leaders a tool to link changes in a municipality’s energy use to economic impacts.

Users of the Finder Web site enter basic information about their city or town, its energy use, and its physical characteristics. The Finder then allows the user to create and save multiple scenarios for the community, using different economic assumptions. Finder users do not need a lot of technical expertise to take advantage of its planning features, so active community groups can use it as easily as community officials.

For more on the Finder, please read the full article “Helping communities find the benefits of efficiency: RMI’s new Website calculates energy savings potential” online in the spring issue of RMI’s Solutions newsletter at the following link: http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid1080.php If you are interested in republishing the article, please fill out a reprint request form at the following link: www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid615.php

Find the Finder at http://finder.rmi.org For more on LIAA, please visit www.liaa.org