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The one piece of advice Margie Harris, executive director at Energy Trust of Oregon would like to share with others is “save energy.”

The idea of being a steward for the environment began in for Harris in 1973, after her mother encouraged her to “do what you love, what makes you happy and the rest will fall in place.”

In 1999 the Oregon State Legislature created Energy Trust as a dedicated source of funding for energy conservation and efficient and renewable energy development.

Harris joined the nonprofit in 2001. She had no staff, no office, and the clock was ticking to start divvying up the public purpose charge, the mandatory fees gathered from residents and business owners each month on their utility bills. The funds were then used to save energy, reduce utility bills and use renewable energy.

The trust is accountable to all residents of Oregon and is overseen by a non-stakeholder board of directors, and over the last decade has saved utility customers nearly $600 million on their energy bills.

“It’s served 300,000 households, 7,200 commercials sites and 1,100 industrial sites,” Harris said, adding that “so far we have saved and generated enough energy to power 250,000 homes and saved enough natural gas energy to heat 26,000 Oregon homes.”

Energy Trust encourages people to generate power using solar, geothermal, biomass, wind and hydropower in two ways. Harris and her group provide information on opportunities to save energy and generate renewable power, and provide financial incentives to help pay for it, she said.

“Everybody benefits,” Harris said. “We have saved all utility rate payers $1.1 billion in the past nine years by avoiding having to pay for fuel generation storage and delivery of energy. It’s good for customers and the environment and the economy and jobs.”

While other programs suffered during the recent economic downturn, Energy Trust thrived by encouraging reduction of energy use in homes and businesses. Among its most successful strategies: installing automated controls for lights and heating and cooling equipment that turns lights on and off when rooms or buildings aren’t occupied.

Energy conservation isn’t Harris’s only passion, however. She sings in a band called “Still Kickin” and finds music to be a great outlet.

“I don’t think about work when I am doing it,” she said. “We have a great time.”

Harris learned the important of challenging herself and having the confidence to take risks from Fred Miller, her boss at the state Department of Energy when she worked there in 1976.

“It’s been a wild ride,” she said.