MECs Annual Reception to be “jazzed” up this year

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Metropolitan Energy Center is adding a more musical touch to its annual reception this year. They’ll be doing their celebration in The Blue Room.

“I guess you can say we’ve jazzed it up,” said Warren Adams-Leavitt, the Energy Center’s Executive Director.

Once a year MEC, the non-profit dedicated to educating the community about the positives of energy efficient use, has a festive occasion to celebrate its successes and give its vendors, partners and sponsors a chance to network with one another. It’s a way not only to show supporters the in-roads MEC has made in the past year in its mission, but also an opportunity to increase membership.

This will be the 7th annual reception and each one has been a light-hearted evening of entertainment and fun. Organizers believe this event will not be any different.

Food will be served, drinks will be flowing and it’s hoped that a good time will be had by all.

Check your email and stay tuned on this site for more information.

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Thank you, Kansas City! We reached our $10,000 crowdfunding goal!

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After two months of crowdfunding, we were able to reach our goal to re-open Project Living Proof. A special thank you to Posty Cards for their additional $500 donation (total $1,000 donation)that put us over our $10,000 goal. In total, we were able to raise $10,575 that will be used to complete several renovation projects and set the model demonstration home up for future improvements.

Even now, preparations are being made for our grand re-opening party that is set for Friday, December 4th at Project Living Proof. We are planning a low key evening to help thank ever Friend of PLP that helped make its re-opening a possibility. Please stay tuned to your email for more.

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KCP&L to end HPwES in December

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To all Energy Auditors, Contractors and interested parties: The current Midwest Home Performance with Energy Star rebate program jointly offered by KCP&L and MGE will end in December 2015. KCP&L is requiring that all jobs must be completed, tested out and submitted by December 18, 2015 in order to qualify for rebates. We believe it likely that MGE will also require submittals by this date, but we have not yet received confirmation. Please review your customer files and alert all potential participants of this time line so that they can make plans to finish up in time for you to test-out and submit the completed job in Compass by Dec. 18th. Thank you for your attention to this requirement and we wish you much success!

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Interested in workforce training programs?

Over the past few years, Metropolitan Energy Center has partnered with other institutions and companies — such as Kansas City Kansas Community College, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and OAI (Opportunity Advancement Innovation) — to aid the unemployed and under-employed to find a job and begin a career.

MEC has offered free career training in Environmental Remediation to interested individuals who were not only committed to completing the training program but also seeking employment in the field. MEC is looking forward to offering these training programs again in the not-so-distant future.

If you might be interested in pursuing these future training opportunities, please contact MEC at 816-531-7283 and ask to leave your name and number. We’ll be sure to contact you when the training opportunities become available.

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Kansas City Power & Light aids Project Living Proof with monetary gift

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Local electric utility Kansas City Power & Light has plugged into Project Living Proof’s (PLP) crowdfunding campaign in a big way. The utility has agreed to donate $2,500 to help PLP reach its $10,000 goal.

Since the early beginnings of the home, KCP&L has been an earnest partner with Metropolitan Energy Center. Whether it was helping to retrofit the demonstration home, helping homeowners with home energy rebates or sharing the SmartGrid program with the community, KCP&L and MEC have worked together on several occasions to educate homeowners about the benefits of energy efficiency.

The donation brings PLP to within $1,100 of its monetary goal. After the goal is reached, Metropolitan Energy Center will not only throw a grand re-opening party but also work to complete the original vision for the demonstration home.

If you would like to help KCP&L, MEC and the many friends of PLP reach its monetary goal, please click here to donate.

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Check out these PLP testimonial videos

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Take a look at a few people who have been inspired by Project Living Proof and what a tour of the building has meant in their lives.

PLP-Rachel-Testimonial from hiram williams on Vimeo. PLP-Jim-Testimonial from hiram williams on Vimeo.
Twana Hall-Scott testimonial: The power of leveraging PLP for real estate professionals Lisa Hummel explains how PLP helped her make the right decisions
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MGE / Laclede Gas supports PLP with matching grant

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MGE:LG_LogoMGE / Laclede has turned up the proverbial gas on all Project Living Proof supporters. The gas company is offering to match any donation to PLP up to $2,500. For example, if you donate $25 they will match your $25 contribution and PLP benefits with a $50 donation. You give $50, MGE will give $50, PLP will get $100 and so on and so forth.

Metropolitan Energy Center thanks MGE/Laclede and all of the donors who have given their time and money to support Project Living Proof. This one-of-a-kind demonstration home may have to close its doors without community support.

There’s not been a better time to give. Please give today and be a friend of Project Living Proof.

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Re-Open Project Living Proof

Metropolitan Energy Center is launching a Crowdfunding Campaign to Re-Open Project Living Proof!

Over the past year and a half PLP has been closed due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, including a water main break.  We are now ready to re-open PLP to fulfill its purpose of being an energy efficiency home model, cultural center, and a Kansas City treasure!

We thank the following donors who have allowed us to recognize them as Friends of PLP:

Bob Housh Gerald Schechter Margaret Richcreek Laura Lombardi
Susan Brown Kate Corwin Jennifer Gunby Amanda Wilson
Hiram Williams Warren Adams-Leavitt Kelly Gilbert Sandi Garrison
See more Friends

 

Project Living Proof frequently asked questions (FAQ).

See our crowdfunding press release.

See testimonials from people who have experienced PLP: Rachel MacNair | Jim Rice

Please help Project Living Proof Re-Open!  Donate today!

Perks (limited number): Purses | Wine

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2015 National Drive Electric Week

National Drive Electric Week is a nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today’s widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlight the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more. National Drive Electric Week 2015 celebrations will take place Across the US and other countries. Check out the Events going on in the Greater Kansas City!

Stay updated about our Drive Electric events on our Events Page.

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The Last From Dave’s Desk

Did you know it was mid-2012 when I realized our area needed a local support entity with informationdave johnson on alternative fuel vehicles? And thanks to a similar belief from Kelly Gilbert and Kay Johnson, Central Kansas Clean Cities was born in January of 2014. This would prove to be an amazing chapter for my desk!

Now initially, I thought it would be fairly straight forward and somewhat easy, but Kelly was right, it was not as easy as I saw it. Fortunately, along the way, I received some tremendous help from some wonderful people! Each of our current and founding board members extended themselves and joined our good fight. I would like to thank Dennis Brown, Tim Hess, Alan Martin, Mike Coburn, Abby Brungardt, Brian Meiers, Kay Johnson, Dennis Hupe, John Schlegel, Steve VanderGriend, and Kim Hynes-Trinchet. Your support has and continues to be the life blood of the coalition.

But we are not done yet! We are just a stone’s throw away from submitting our request for designation package to the DOE! Not to mention all the education, events, and resource services still needing to be tended to! Thankfully we picked up Shawn Schmidt this past October through the WSU intern program. During our time together, Shawn demonstrated professionalism, responsibility, and interpersonal skills to be envied! Shawn recently graduated with his BBA from WSU and when combined with his uncommon qualities, it’s with great excitement for the future of our Central Kansas Clean Cities Coalition I announce that Shawn has agreed to replace me and pick up the now full-time Program Coordinator position. I am sure in a short amount of time you will see how very advantageous this will be for the organization. Please help me welcome Shawn to our family! He can be reached at 316-712-5051 or at Shawn@metroenergy.org.

As for me, besides being front line support for the coalition, there’s a little known tech company called Rental Geek. It’s a small three-man operation that has been working to digitalize the college town apartment rental process, and by Jove, I think we’ve done it. You can pick up and follow our story on social media. So this will be my last entry into this chapter of Dave’s Desk.

Viva AFV’s!

Dave Johnson

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