photo by Beth Meacham
Glover resident Jack Sumberg and Greensboro resident Jennifer Ranz evaluate the effectiveness and composition of different types of insulation at a workshop at the Greensboro Free Library on February 3.
GREENSBORO – A new multi-town energy efficiency group, Save Energy NEK, sponsored its first event on Saturday Feb. 3, at the Greensboro Free Library.
The community workshop, led by Aaron Heyerdahl, an energy educator with the Vermont Energy Education Program (VEEP), focused on home heat transfer and how to weatherize a home efficiently to reduce fuel bills. Attendees reviewed the three types of heat transfer, conduction, convection and radiation, and participated in hands-on activities to demonstrate the effectiveness of different insulation materials.
Beth Meacham, a Greensboro volunteer who helped coordinate the workshop said: “It was really interesting to understand more about how heat is lost from a building and the ways to reduce this heat loss by choosing the right insulation. However, the importance of sealing up cracks around wall joints, floor joists, windows, doors, outlets and vents, is clearly the first step when starting home improvements.”
photo by Liz Steel
Greensboro residents Mike and Mary Metcalf, holding the winning energy efficiency design at the workshop at the Greensboro Free Library.
The workshop was organized by Save Energy NEK, a new energy efficiency group made up of 13 volunteers from six neighboring towns: Albany, Craftsbury, Glover, Greensboro, Hardwick and Stannard. Established as a result of all six towns being awarded the Statewide Municipal Energy Resilience Program (MERP) mini-grant of $4,000, the mission of Save Energy NEK is to enable homeowners to take concrete steps towards improving the comfort of their homes while reducing energy bills.
Jennifer Ranz, a Greensboro resident who attended the workshop said she was going to “caulk outlets and switches and any spots where there is air leakage” as a priority in improving the energy efficiency of her home.
Save Energy NEK volunteers will be tabling at town meeting in all six of the participating towns, where they welcome questions. The next event in the Save Energy NEK education program will be an “Ask the Expert” panel event on March 19, in Fellowship Hall at the Greensboro United Church of Christ. For more information contact the Greensboro Free Library at [email protected] or (802) 533-2531.
