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City of Oberlin

Case study, city

Oberlin is a city of about 8,300 people with its own electric utility. Community Hub runs the City's communication platform, with 24 interactive signs in schools, the library, City Hall, shops and churches. The Citywide Dashboard shows live data from the utility and the water plants, updated every minute.

environmentaldashboard.orgOpen dashboard

Loading Oberlin Citywide Dashboard…

Oberlin’s Citywide Dashboard.

Screens run in schools, the library, City Hall and local businesses

Where
Oberlin, Ohio, about 8,300 residents including students
Screens
24 interactive signs around town
Data
Oberlin Municipal Light and Power, the water and wastewater plants, and Plum Creek
Contract
Four years, to run the City's platform and promote its Climate Action Plan
Public dashboards
City of Oberlin and Oberlin City Schools
24interactive signs in schools, the library, City Hall and businesses
1 minbetween readings from the city utility and water plants
10,050kWh saved community-wide in the 2024 Ecolympics
2,570gallons saved by the City Schools in the 2024 Ecolympics

Oberlin has 24 interactive digital dashboard signs. They're in the City Schools, the library, a food pantry, businesses, City Hall, the Fire Station, a retirement community and churches.

A Community Hub screen on a wood-paneled wall in the Hotel at Oberlin lobbyA Community Hub screen in the Hotel at Oberlin lobby

When nobody's touching a screen, it cycles through the dashboards, the calendar and Community Voices. Each screen also carries content for its own location, such as a principal's announcements in a school.

Modes of information delivery

How people use it

Residents post events

Anyone can post a public, non-commercial event with a short form. It usually reaches the screens and the web within hours.

Neighbors appear in Community Voices

Seven sections, such as Neighbors, Heritage and Next Generation, carry photos and words from people in Oberlin.

Anyone can take over a screen

A QR code poster next to each screen turns a phone into its remote.

Principals post to their own school

Each school's screens carry the principal's announcements alongside town-wide content.

Shoppers and vendors at an indoor market with vegetables and pumpkins

“Community Hub’s events calendar has made our work easier. People in the community are participating — it’s simple, but transformative!”

Janet Haar, Executive Director Oberlin Business Partnership

Oberlin's buildings compete every year to cut electricity and water

Four groups compete: the City Schools, community buildings, Oberlin College houses and College buildings. The biggest cut against each building's own baseline wins. The 2026 competition ran March 2 to 15, with community goals of 20,000 kWh and 15,000 gallons, up from 10,000 of each in 2025.

Ecolympics 2024 slide: Oberlin met its community-wide electricity reduction goal and saved 10,050 kilowatt-hours
Ecolympics 2024 slide: Oberlin City Schools achieved the greatest water reduction, saving 2,570 gallons

Origin Story

Dates for the City of Oberlin only. Community Hub's own history since 2000 is on the About page.

  1. 2008

    Environmental Dashboard's Oberlin pilot begins, supported by the Great Lakes Protection Fund.

  2. 2014 and 2015

    Prospect Elementary cuts electricity by more than 30% in both years' competitions, and water by 10% in 2015.

  3. By 2016

    Signs run in 11 city locations, including all four public schools the town had then.

  1. 2024

    Ecolympics takes the theme Later Is Too Late: Efficiency, Electrification and Solarization. The community saves 10,050 kWh.

  2. 2026

    Oberlin has 24 interactive signs, and Community Hub promotes the Climate Action Plan under a four year contract.

Oberlin's public dashboards

oberlin.communityhub.cloudVisit partner page Open dashboard

Loading the City of Oberlin dashboard…

The City's public dashboard. Explore city buildings and town-wide electricity and water.
Participants in an Environmental Dashboard workshop at the Great Lakes Science Center