TC Daily Planet - NEC & CERT Squad helps St. Paul homeowners
Twin Cities Daily Planet: Story by Lawrence Schumacher
Excerpts: Funded by proceeds from the Minnesota State Lottery and energy companies, the Neighborhood Energy Connection (NEC) squads began a pilot project in the Summit-University, St. Anthony Park and Thomas-Dale neighborhoods of St. Paul last August to help owners increase their homes’ energy efficiency.
Beginning in February with the Lexington-Hamline neighborhood, the NEC will launch a neighborhood-by-neighborhood project to offer inspections and on-the-spot help throughout St. Paul in 2010, said Josh Davis, NEC’s Home Energy Squad manager.
For a cost that ranges from free to $80, residents can get up to $400 of goods and services designed to reduce their utility bills by an average of $150 a year installed in their homes, he said…
Image by David Joles, Star Tribune
…Attending a free neighborhood energy efficiency workshop sponsored by the Green Institute ahead of time can further buy down the $50-80 average cost of the improvements to just $30, said Carl Samuelson, Metro Clean Energy Resource Team organizer for the Green Institute.
One such workshop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Hallie Q. Brown Center for residents of the Thomas-Dale and Summit-University neighborhoods. Workshops will take place in every neighborhood in St. Paul this year, he said.
Participants will also get a year of energy use reporting by Xcel Energy that compares their energy use to that of neighbors and the average for their type of home to see if they’re saving money, Samuelson said.
People who qualify for low-income energy assistance programs may be able to get the NEC squad visit and improvements for free, Davis said.
NEC squads have visited almost 500 homes in St. Paul so far, and Davis said they’re adding team members to meet a goal of improving 4,000 homes in 2010…
Clean Energy Resource Teams