National Campaign Needs Sacramento's Help to Save Energy Using Social Media

Imagine walking through Old Sacramento in the middle of the day. How many retailers do you think have their doors open? More than you’d think. It’s actually a pretty common practice used by store owners hoping to draw in potential customers, but it wastes energy and increase the amount of pollutants in the air.

It's not uncommon for locals and tourists to browse local shops in Sacramento and in cities across the country, and with the recent record heat in Sacramento this summer, more stores are propping their doors open with the air conditioning running.

Generation 180, a new nonprofit based in Charlottesville, Va., has created a national campaign to educate people about the impact of this wasted air conditioning.

Research from Generation 180’s Keep It Cool campaign confirms that the average store with its doors open all summer wastes some 4,200 kilowatts of energy, which generates 2.2 tons of pollutants such as carbon dioxide into the environment. That’s roughly the same amount of CO2 emitted by a diesel semi-truck driving from Sacramento to Seattle... and back!

Given how hot it has been in Sacramento practically all summer, it's critical Sacramento residents know about the campaign and do their part. In fact, most conscious consumers see this practice and walk away, and they're not alone. A Gen180 survey revealed that 7 out of every 10 (73%) Californians found the practice to be wasteful, and a third (33%) said they were less likely to shop at a business that was wasting energy.

Participating in Keep It Cool is simple and innovative. Consumers can use Facebook Messenger on their smartphones to send a pinned store location to Generation 180, noting whether a store has its doors open or closed. The campaign then reaches out to the stores to recognize those that ‘keep it cool’ with their doors closed and educate those who are allowing energy to escape. A national campaign map tracks all of the stores identified by consumers with doors open or closed.

The goal of the campaign is to make consumers more aware of energy waste and to encourage retailers to change their practices in small yet simple ways.

Sacramento is a phenomenal place to support local businesses, and also to help reduce waste and pollution. The campaign encourages retailers to keep their doors closed to conserve energy as our warm weather continues into fall, and shoppers can step into their stores to cool off and feel good about finding something “cool” to buy.