Grant will help fund energy-saving window inserts for lower-income households
Vermont Business Magazine Energize Vermont, a non-profit energy education and advocacy organization, today (3/22/23) announced a grant award to the Craftsbury Energy Committee to support the town’s WindowDressers program. Over the last several years, Energize Vermont has granted thousands of dollars to WindowDressers communities. At WindowDressers workshops, community volunteers collaborate to assemble custom-fit plastic film inserts stretched over wooden frames for use in area homes. The Energize Vermont grant is intended to support participation in WindowDressers workshops by lower-income households.
For WindowDressers projects, town Energy Committee volunteers solicit orders for window inserts and recruit and train volunteer workshop participants. The inserts work like storm windows but are much less expensive and far easier to install and remove. They fit inside an existing window, adding two insulating spaces and improving the air seal. Window inserts improve the comfort of homes, reduce heating costs, and can reduce carbon footprints.
“The collaboration between WindowDressers, the Craftsbury Energy Committee, and Energize Vermont demonstrates that grassroots action is an effective way to address climate change and improve Vermonters’ quality of life," said Rep. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury.
Support for WindowDressers is an element of Energize Vermont’s Climate Action Program, which promotes a response to climate change that reduces consumption, limits energy sprawl, and preserves the natural resources that defend Vermont against climate impacts.
“These inserts help in more ways than one because everyone feels the warmth when we gather neighbors to build them together,” Alan Turnbull of the Craftsbury Energy Committee.
The Vermont WindowDressers effort has technical and material support from Maine’s non-profit WindowDressers, which developed the community approach to energy savings. Over the history of the project, WindowDressers has conducted hundreds of workshops in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The workshops have engaged thousands of community volunteers and produced over 48,000 window inserts, with 25 to 30% of those supplied to low-income households without cost. More information is available at www.windowdressers.org.
To apply to Energize Vermont’s 2023 Energy Committee Assistance Grant, visit energizevermont.org/the-window-project. Grant applications may be submitted through December 1, 2023.
Town energy committees or other community groups interested in learning more about Energize Vermont’s Grant Program or Vermont Window Project community workshops may contact Becca Dill at [email protected] or Jack Sumberg, WindowDressers President, at [email protected].
Energize Vermont is a non-profit organization with members across Vermont, founded in 2010 to promote sensible energy and climate policies that protect our environment and respect our communities.
The Vermont Windows Project is an element of Energize Vermont’s Climate Action Project, an exploration of climate action alternatives available to Vermonters—actions we can carry out at the state, community, and household levels.
East Burke, Vt.-- Energize Vermont
