Energy On Video And In Homes

Brent the Builder
HOPKINSVILLE
Congratulations to Brent Gilkey, manager of member services for Pennyrile Electric. Gilkey is 2012 president of the Hopkinsville/Christian County Homebuilders Association. In that role, Gilkey conducts the association’s monthly meetings and vendor-sponsored luncheons. He also oversees an array of activities. “Pennyrile Electric has been a member of the Homebuilders since it began in this area,” Gilkey says. “Through our membership, we work with area homebuilders to encourage them to build energy-efficient and all-electric houses that keep energy costs low.”

The energy Oscar goes to…
MCKEE
Students from four elementary schools in Jackson County were given the red-carpet treatment recently as winners of the Energy Oscars, a new environmental education program that honors excellence in videos about the value of saving energy. Sponsored by Jackson Energy Cooperative and PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment), the contest attracted 9,763 voters from the community who chose the winners with their vote.

The students wrote scripts about why and how to use energy wisely, and then acted out the scripts to produce a two-minute video. Jackson Energy edited the videos and made them available to the public through a Web site(www.myjacksonenergy.com) where community members could see the videos and vote for their favorites. The videos were also broadcast on the local cable channel.

“We were so pleased that the students, parents, teachers, and community enthusiastically supported this project,” says Don Schaefer, president and CEO of Jackson Energy. “Their creativity helped us communicate an important message—make homes more energy efficient—to thousands of families in a way that was educational and entertaining.”