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by Raye Tibbitts
Coastal Journal contributor
BATH — “What's an oil guy doing with a winter preparation program?” Bill Brillant, Customer Service Manager at Downeast Energy asked the 70 representatives of Maine's Weatherization Forum, who assembled on Tuesday, July 28 at Coastal Economic Development.
The answer was easy. “We both want to keep people warm.”
The “heating meeting,” according to Maria Hinteregger, of the United Way of Mid Coast Maine happens every year in mid summer, but with last year's home heating fuel prices soaring to over $4 a gallon, a new approach to serving low income Mainers developed.
The Step One Weatherization Project resulted in area non-profit agencies, such as Habitat for Humanity and the United Way, churches, businesses and volunteers collaborating in what, Brilliant describes as a “thinking outside of the box” effort to weatherize the homes of low income local families who would otherwise have seen their heating dollars slip out any one of the 39 leak sites identified by a Princeton University study in the average house.
A distinction must be made. “Winterization,” according to Hinteregger, “is temporary improvements” that may last only one season.
Weatherization, at least according to US Department of Energy standards generally involves replacement windows, a new furnace, or any of a number of expensive upgrades that many low income families, in any economic climate, simply cannot afford.
The goal of Step One Weatherization is to attend to the small steps that can be taken to decrease the cost of home heating. “You don't hear about plugging holes,” said Charlie Wing, an author, founder of Shelter Institute, and expert energy auditor who led the effort to train volunteers to evaluate homes for energy efficiency.
While the project involved home energy evaluations, minor insulation, and switching incandescent bulbs for the more energy efficient CFLs, what many people think of is the project's initiative to stem the flow of warmth by building and installing storm windows.
Wing demonstrates by removing the wood-framed, heat-shrinked plastic from a window casement, pointing out that these storms, along with V-stripping on the inside of the existing window, have an “R-value of 2.” In construction terms, that means better insulation against heat flow OUT of the house. For an hour's work and the cost of a few building materials, that is as good if not better than the return on an investment in replacement windows, the cost of which easily runs into the thousands.
For families signing up for Step One Weatherization, the process involves an energy evaluation by volunteers who participate in three hours training with Wing. Such evaluations can take up to four hours once the volunteers are in the home, and this year, they will implement changes - like plugging holes - as they analyze. Once those changes are made, volunteers will measure windows, and turn over the building of storms to another set of volunteers. Once the storms are built, the installation is a straight-forward affair. The total savings for a home owner can be as high as $450. When you subtract that amount plus any direct heating assistance to an average oil bill of $1916 a year, the savings are substantial.
Although the project's goal was to serve 100 families last winter, only 76 families were served. “But what I tell my staff is that, hey, that's 76 more than would have been helped if we had done nothing,” Tara Hill, executive director of Habitat for Humanity said.
She went on to highlight what Habitat for Humanity, as the agency arm of the Step One Weatherization Project, has planned to address this year's home heating issues. “Start early. Have a plan,” were her guiding principles. Improved volunteer training was at the top of the list with training dates scheduled for 9/23, 9/26, and 10/3. The first weatherization is scheduled for 10/2. The plan is to weatherize in October and install storms in November.
But perhaps the biggest challenge facing Step One is finding the families who need help the most. “It will always be an issue getting people to accept help,” Hill asserted, but in times like these there is no shortage of people looking for a way to lend a hand, and build a window that might keep a neighbor warm during the long nights of winter.
For more information on the Step One Weatherization Project, please contact Habitat for Humanity or The United Way of Mid Coast Maine.
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