"Take Charge" campaign steps up efforts for winter
North Adams - Ordinary residents will be trained to become spokespeople for reducing energy costs in their communities. The Take Charge campaign is building a corporation of people who can speak authoritatively on residential home energy efficiency.Citing a need of reaching deeper into the community to folks who will be most at risk this winter, the Take Charge campaign is training 25 people to be informal energy counselors. Attendees will include several students, faculty and staff from MCLA and Williams College, staff from Drury high school and the middle school, people from various neighborhoods, and people who have efficient homes already and want to volunteer by sharing their knowledge.
After the training, organizers hope the energy counselors will fill a niche in our energy efforts that is currently unmet. The professional energy auditors working for the Mass Save program, CET and Berkshire Community Action are getting busier with increasing demand. Additionally, because so many rebates and incentives are now tied to the official audit, the auditors can't spend as much time talking to residents about energy strategy and answering questions. Counselors will hopefully fill that void by talking to their neighbors, being visible at events and speaking to groups about what everyone can do to save energy.
The training will feature an hour and a half section by local efficiency expert and author, Bruce Harley. Harley will cover all the systems in the home that use energy and what guidelines will help a variety of homes save money. Then, Nancy Nylen of CET (the Center for Ecological Technology) will talk about the rebates, incentives and programs that help with home energy solutions.
In November, Williams students will participate in a winterization program coordinated by Berkshire Community Action for homes that receive fuel assistance. This program, while small in previous years, will be expanded this year with higher levels of training on the part of students, and a more energetic student leadership through the Williams Thursday Night Group.
"Getting students trained as energy counselors out into the community is such a great opportunity to not only make a difference right now, but also to lead to more exciting projects in the future," said Madeline King, a second-year student at Williams. "We're really interested in the intersection between energy, justice, poverty and connecting with our local community. This is exactly what students should be doing." Madeline will work as an intern to coordinate some of the volunteer activities of the Take Charge campaign.
Energy counselors will not be required to take on any volunteer role. However, trained counselors will be encouraged to let their neighbors, friends and workplaces know that they are happy to answer questions about home energy use. Organizers hope some of the counselors will go the extra mile and find larger opportunities to educate the public about opportunities for home energy independence.
"Dollar for dollar, investing in energy efficiency is the best way to prepare for the winter," according to Morgan Goodwin, Take Charge project intern. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to energy, and we are the ones who can put in the work to make the change."
