WHAT:

National launch of the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a multi-year incentive competition that challenges small- to medium-size U.S. communities to rethink energy use, and implement creative strategies to increase and sustain efficiency. The list of 49 U.S. communities who have signed a Letter of Intent to compete will be unveiled. Representatives from those communities will be on site to join federal and state policymakers, utility representatives, and energy efficiency experts to open the Prize’s Application Phase and issue an open invitation for other communities to join the competition.

• Communities with a population between 5,000 and 250,000 are eligible to compete in the Prize. This includes 8,892 communities in total, and accounts for more than 200 million Americans.

• When the Prize concludes in 2017, one winning community will be awarded a $5 million prize purse, to be spent on energy efficiency programs in their community.

WHY:

More than half of the total energy produced in the U.S. (61%) is wasted due to inefficiencies. The Georgetown University Energy Prize aims to address one part of our country’s energy problem: household and municipal energy consumption of electricity and natural gas.

WHO:

John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University

Daniel B. Poneman, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

Francis Slakey, Executive Director, Georgetown University Energy Prize

Representatives from competing communities

The event program and a full list of speakers can be found online at www.guep.org/launch.

WHEN:

April 23, 2014

WHERE:

Georgetown University

RSVP:

Media interested in attending the national launch of the Georgetown University Energy Prize can RSVP by contacting Carrie Fox: 202-255-9214 or carrie@cfoxcommunications.com.