WRCOG staff touts Inland Regional Energy Fellowship growth; host applications open through May 10

Tyler Masters, program manager in WRCOG's Energy and Environmental Department, updated the Executive Committee on the Inland Regional Energy (IREN) Fellowship, a CivicSpark/AmeriCorps partnership that places fellows with public-sector host sites to support energy-efficiency projects.

Masters said the fellowship launched in 2023 and is now in its third year; since launch the program has placed 56 fellows at public-sector host sites. Fellows serve approximately 11 months (about 1,700 hours) and support projects ranging from energy benchmarking and facility audits to development of energy-climate action plan measures and school-district energy curricula.

Masters highlighted that participation comes at no cost to host agencies: "this fellowship is funded by IREN and receiving a fellow comes at no cost to our participating agencies," he said. He added that 21 projects supported by IREN fellows are participating in an incentive program that has brought about $2,200,000 in IREN incentives back to host agencies and that those projects are estimated to generate about $7,400,000 in annual utility-bill savings across participating sites.

Masters encouraged agencies that have not previously hosted a fellow to apply; host-site interest forms are open through May 10 on a first-come, first-served basis. He described the host-site requirements as a short interest form and a supervisor and workspace for the fellow.

A committee member asked for clarification on the $7.4 million figure; Masters explained the program's three sectors (workforce, codes/standards, and public sector) and reiterated that the incentive-backed projects supported by fellows account for the savings estimate. The committee expressed general support and the chair recommended agencies that have not yet hosted a fellow consider the program.