2022-2023 Annual Report

This past year has seen CEBE make great strides toward increasing climate resilience in our western Maine communities while fostering a just transition to a renewable energy future. Our work with Maine’s Community Resilience Partnership continues to open doors in towns throughout our area to engage communities in climate action, while taking meaningful steps to reduce our collective carbon footprint through over $750,000 in grants and rebates for energy, weatherization and other climate-related projects.

 

Our two most ambitious projects to date, a consumer-owned solar cooperative and an equity-based housing cooperative, have come ever so closer to fruition. This year, our housing team raised over $80,000 to purchase an ideal lot in downtown Norway and coordinate the project, and our solar team won a $100,000 prize from the U.S. Department of Energy to help us bring affordable solar power to our community. On top of that, we were able to glean nearly $80,000 in rebates to install a new network of EV chargers in the region that will provide an income stream for CEBE while making the western foothills region a destination for EV drivers from throughout the region.

 

These are the kinds of numbers and transformative projects we could only have dreamt of 10 years ago when we launched this little non-profit on Main Street in Norway. It is through the efforts of hundreds of people who have participated in one way or another over that decade that we are where we are today, and that will help us build the momentum we need to carry this work forward as the climate crisis unfolds.

 

View the rest of the annual report here, including highlights of what we've been up to since our annual fundraising letter of late 2022, gratitude, testimonials, information on our financial health, and a look at the near future

 

In solidarity,

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Scott Vlaun

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