Simplifying Weatherization, by Richard M. Cherry, President of Community Environmental Center

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

David Leonhardt’s recent weatherization article in The New York Times (“A Stimulus That Could Save Money,” November 18, 2009) touched on a number of salient points that Commmunity Environmental Center encounters on a regular basis as a weatherization implementer.

CEC enthusiastically supports the proposals submitted by the Clinton Foundation and John Doerr that would provide incentives for middle-class retrofits. Either of these strategies would make a great impact on residents’ willingness to invest in retrofits, supplementing the on-going Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) that targets low-income buildings.

We understand the concerns voiced in your article regarding the complexity of retrofits (“Weatherizing a home turns out to be a lot more complicated than buying a car”). We’ve done a lot of work trying to simplify information about generally implemented measures and their benefits. But time and again our experience has shown that the difference in efficiency needs between buildings is wider than can be summed up in a fact sheet.

We focus our approach on providing guidance to individual building owners and collaboratively determine the work that will actually be performed. Our auditors and crew chiefs carefully explain work, paybacks and options, so we that we can determine the most cost-effective and environmentally beneficial retrofit strategy in close collaboration with the homeowner.

We have also been sending an environmental educator with our crew to offer suggestions on life-style changes that the occupants might make, as well as how to maintain new equipment in their home. At the end of a job, we ask clients for any feedback they have on how the job went.

Thus the following letter on November 18, from Leah Schild, of Forest Hills, NY:

Dear Mr. Cherry,

I am writing to inform you about Roger Finbar and Ashton Harewood, who were in my home today for a weatherization evaluation. Both of these individuals explained in detail what was going to be done for the Weatherization Home Evaluation. They arrived well before the scheduled time, which certainly is commendable. Mr. Finbar and Mr. Harewood were kind, patient, and informative in answering my questions concerning the program. They certainly work very well together, and you can be proud to have them on your environmental team.

Sincerely,

Leah Schild

And this excerpt of an email from Brooklyn resident Thomas Glynn:

The CEC representative who came and did the energy audit presented me with a complete proposal that showed the specific areas that needed work, what the payback period would be, and the cost of each item. This allowed me to decide which parts I could do now and those I could put off until later. After the audit, he sat down with my wife and myself and went over each detail, answering any questions we had.

Weatherizing one’s home does not have to be more complicated than buying a car!

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