Neighbor Warming Neighbor
Since 2008, volunteers have gone into about 60 homes with caulk and foam, sealing air leaks that are responsible for so much of the heat loss found in buildings. One homeowner reported a $500 savings from the previous year! This weatherization program depends on volunteer labor, and we match voluteers with hand skills with volunteers with enthusiasm. Homeowners of all incomes are welcome to sign up for the program. We ask all homeowners who participate to contribute in whatever way they can: referring neighbors, joining us on another house, or donating for materials.
Window Insert Workshops
Beginning in 2009 we began conducting window insert workshops. Out low-cost window inserts are designed to add the equivalent of two panes of glass to windows. Unlike shrink-wrapping windows directly, our inserts are reusable from year to year. At a cost of about $1 per square foot, these inserts can save homeowners up to 1 gallon of fuel oil per square foot per year.
Education Programs
Energizing a Community has sponsored many presentations for the community on various topics relating to energy efficiency, energy conservation, and renewable energy from wood stove safety, energy audits, and renewable energy alternatives.
Energy Audits
The Town of Unity through the Unity Energy Committee, has recently received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to being offering professional audits to homeowners within the Town of Unity. (Other area towns are working on similar grants.) Keep posted for more news on how you can get a low-cost, high quality energy audit for your home, commercial or non-profit property. With these audits you will be able to prioritize where to put your energy retrofit investments.
Energy Retrofits
Through the EECBG, the Unity Energy Committee will be able to work with citizens of Unity to facilitate energy saving retrofits to buildings in Unity from weatherization to insulation to renewable energy installations. We will have a limited amount of funding to help building owners defer costs, but we will use our knowledge of tax breaks and incentives, coupled with group buying power, to help building owners make the most cost effective choices.
