Many Will Qualify For Weatherization Stimulus Money

ABINGDON, Va. – Working people often didn’t qualify, and even those who did had to wait in line – but that’s changed under the announcement that $3 million in federal economic stimulus money is now available for weatherizing homes in Southwest Virginia.

“We have traditionally had a two-year waiting list … but with the stimulus money coming in, we’re looking at going from 80 to 100 jobs a year to perhaps 300 or 400 a year,” Fred Gross, weatherization coordinator for the nonprofit People Incorporated, said as the organization announced its the new money and new eligibility guidelines for its program.

“We’re looking at the possibility of eliminating our waiting list,” Gross said Thursday.

With triple the funding available, the income guidelines for the program have been expanded. Now, an individual earning $30,581 a year or a family of four earning $58,810 a year can qualify. Additionally, Gross said, the amount that can be spent on each project has increased.

To handle the new work load, Gross said, he’s already increasing the program’s staff from six to 16 people.

A representative of Environment Virginia, an environmental group that promotes energy conservation, was on hand Thursday to praise the People Incorporated program.

“The reason why this work is so important is it provides a real opportunity for both economic benefits and environmental benefits,” said J.R. Tolbert, an advocate for Environment Virginia. “The cleanest form of energy in the world is energy that we do not use.”

Tolbert said the nation must transition to renewable energy, and technology is being developed to generate baseload power with concentrated solar energy. But, he said, energy conservation is just as important – and Virginia could cut its use by 19 percent simply by weatherizing homes and using other technologies to use power more efficiently.

“Insulating a home in the summer will also keep it cooler,” said Matt Henderson, a field coordinator for the weatherization program at People Incorporated. “It’s a very beneficial program. I think it’s going to help out a lot of people, and not just on the aspect of cutting energy, but increasing jobs.”

Through its weatherization program, People Incorporated adds insulation and seals walls to make homes more energy efficient, which has an impact on the wallet as well as the environment. Workers hook up equipment that depressurizes the building, which reveals often-invisible spots where air is leaking out of the structure. Just sealing those cracks and adding insulation is enough to cut energy bills drastically, Gross said, and the houses weatherized by the program see on average a 40 percent savings.

“We seal those [unseen] areas and cut energy bills in half a lot of the time,” Gross said. “We have a house in Meadowview that documented savings of 86 percent.”

Homeowners and renters who apply now might even have the work done on their homes before the end of this coming winter, Gross said.

“Weatherization is the original green workforce,” he said. “We’ve been doing this since 1975.”

In that time, Gross said, People Incorporated has weatherized about 3,000 homes.

But many in the area still have heating systems installed in the 1950s, when oil was cheap and energy costs were not a consideration.

Gross said he is hopeful that the $5 billion available for weatherization programs nationwide – $94 million of it in Virginia and $3.6 million for his program, which serves the city of Bristol and Washington and Buchanan counties – will help put a dent in the problem.

“Energy conservation has finally come of age,” he said.

| (276) 791-0701

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Family size   Income limit
1………………… $30,581
2………………… $39,991
3………………… $49,400
4………………… $58,810
5………………… $68,219
6………………… $77,629

To apply:
* Phone (276) 623-9000
* Visit the office at 1173 E. Main St., Abingdon
* Go to peopleincorp.org/