Award-Winning Film Maker and Mad TV Editor Richard LaBrie Teams Up With George Burmeister and the Colorado Energy Group to Film “The People Side of Energy Efficiency”
First Film Focuses on Speedy Implementation in Fulton County, Georgia: Film Maker Calls Local and State Government Employees the Real Heroes of Energy Efficiency….
The Boulder, Colorado-based Colorado Energy Group (CEG) recently teamed up with Los Angeles-based film maker, Richard LaBrie, to document energy efficiency and renewable energy success stories funded through federal stimulus funding and annual appropriations to local and state governments. Their first film documents what Fulton County, Georgia officials quickly did with their Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funds. The film can be found at one of four Internet sites:
1) The DOE Energy Empowers home page at: http://www.energyempowers.gov (click on Georgia under “Stories by State,” and then click on the icon over Atlanta); 2) http://coloradoenergygroup.com; 3) http://www.youtube.com/user/EnergyImperatives; or 4) http://vimeo.com/12435236.
“Local and state governments are spending tax payer dollars wisely and appropriately, and energy efficiency technologies and related work can be exciting! Existing films generally do not reflect this,” said CEG President George Burmeister. “Most local and state government energy films that we reviewed were not compelling and did not show the detailed, added value of energy efficiency. Many films show lab technicians in white coats with bubbling beakers in the background as they talk slowly about their basic research. These films are fine, but they are not helping our local and state deployment programs. It is time to use social marketing channels such as YouTube to our advantage. I found a great film maker in Rich, raised money from a foundation and we made a film that shows ‘the people side of energy efficiency,’ while also showing impressive energy/carbon savings.”
LaBrie, a solar energy entrepreneur and Producer/Director of feature films starring the late Gregory Hines and Darrin McGavin (the father in “A Christmas Story”), was also Editor of Mad TV for 14 years. LaBrie said, “George came to me with the idea and I thought it was important. Fulton County received $814,000.00 in stimulus funds from the U.S. DOE and invested it in energy efficiency, and they estimate they will save almost $2 million a year from this investment. We show the real heroes of energy efficiency. There is a very compelling case for using short films/videos to help transfer best practices and reduce emissions. Some of the $3.2 billion given to local governments through the EECBG is already at work creating jobs and saving energy—we want to document success stories throughout the next two years, including tribal governments, as the savings really start to accrue.”
Fulton County executive, Roy Estell, commented, “Rich and George are professionals—they came in and filmed our story and showed exactly what we are doing with our EECBG funds. Rich is a veteran in the film industry and George knows local government energy programs as well as anyone, so we were very comfortable with using them for our story. We hope that other counties can learn from our experience and implement programs like ours.”
Burmeister, who has been educating the U.S. Congress and local and state policy makers about the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy for more than 20-years added, “These films can only become more important in the future. Our industry is evolving, and if we want to reach the younger folks just coming into the business, and the policy makers making funding decisions about our programs, these films may be the most cost-effective and timely way to do so.”
Burmeister and LaBrie are filming more EECBG and state and local government energy efficiency and renewable energy success stories. If you know of a potential story, please contact Richard LaBrie at 626.755.1825, or rlabrie@earthlink.net, or George Burmeister at 303.478.1908, or george@coloradoenergygroup.com.
-End-
