I found out about this contest because my hometown, Palo Alto, California, is one of the cities participating. The goal of the contest is to increase overall energy efficiency. The 50 cities chosen to compete have populations under 250,000 residents.

"For every competitor, this is a community-wide effort: elementary schools, civics organizations, church groups, businesses, governments, and utilities have all united to help their community build a better energy future, and bring home the Prize," stated Dr. Francis Slakey, Founder and Executive Director of the Georgetown University Energy Prize.

"The competition looks truly like America," said Dr. Slakey, "Not only do these communities come from across the map, they represent the nation's full political, social and economic diversity. Some are paying the highest prices for energy, some have the ambition to be carbon net-zero, but all the communities share the goal of transforming America?s energy future."

In January, 2016, Georgetown launched a ratings dashboard so you can track how different communities are doing. Right now, Huntsville, Alabama is ranked #1. My town, Palo Alto, is ranked #15. In 2017, the finalists will be announced for the next phase of the competition. The ratings can be seen here: https://guep.iconics.com 

The calculation of the ratings is complicated they are ranked by an "Overall Energy Score" based on various factors. It's not a carbon-emissions rating, although they do track how communities are doing with carbon emission reduction. Right now, Winter Park, Florida, is leading the way by a huge margin on carbon reduction, although they are 30th on the overall energy efficiency chart.

 For more information, visit www.guep.org. I will look forward to learning more as the contest progresses. 

Anyone know of similar contests elsewhere in the world?