The Village’s Oak Park Energy Navigator (OPEN) Program is here!
When Oak Park’s Village Board passed the Climate Ready Oak Park (CROP) plan in 2022, high on its list of priorities was a “one-stop shop” offering technical assistance to homeowners interested in energy, resiliency, and health housing retrofits.
Understanding the urgency of such a service to facilitate the adoption of decarbonization measures in their homes, OPCAN implemented its Climate Coaches program in 2023. Climate Coaches are a group of volunteers ready to share their personal experience in implementing a variety of these measures with others, in free 30-minute-plus phone conversations.
In March 2026, the Village has fulfilled its commitment to establishing the “one-stop shop” with the launch of the Oak Park Energy Navigator (OPEN) program, developed in partnership with non-profit Elevate, a Chicago-based national organization that provides access and resources to clean and renewable energy services for various stakeholders.
Free to Oak Park owners of condominiums and smaller multi-unit buildings as well as single-family homes, OPEN offers a free home energy assessment to identify energy-saving opportunities. Participants also receive a personalized report outlining steps toward energy improvements and available financial resources to help complete energy-saving projects that can save money while improving comfort.
The Village Office of Sustainability & Resilience tabling next to OPCAN
OPCAN Climate Coaching Continues!
OPCAN’s Climate Coaches program isn’t going away with the advent of OPEN. So how will the two programs relate to each other? OPEN’s dedicated energy experts create assessment and energy upgrade “roadmaps” to help homeowners prioritize the various steps they can take toward greater building energy efficiency based on impact, expense, and resources.
Climate Coaches, on the other hand, offers neighbor-to-neighbor conversations on particular topics, based on their own experience. Coaches can answer questions like “How has switching your home’s heating from gas to electric affected the comfort of your interior?”, “What are the pros and cons of cooking with induction versus gas?”, or “How did you decide whether to buy or lease rooftop solar panels?”
In addition, Climate Coaches can advise on topics not covered by OPEN, such as landscaping with native plants to reduce flood risk and promote biodiversity; buying, charging, and road-tripping in an EV (electric vehicle); composting kitchen and yard waste to reduce landfill and create nutrient-rich soil “food” and getting started with bicycling.
OPEN and Climate Coaches complement each other in helping Oak Parkers on their journeys toward greater climate sustainability, and many Oak Parkers will find value in utilizing both.