Exciting news! Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund's Waterbury Home Energy Action Campaign kicked off Round 2 of our campaign to help Waterbury, CT residents learn about and sign up for free energy efficiency services. Thanks to a grant from the Energize Community Partnership Initiative, we’re excited to do more to help residents learn about this program and sign up.
Connecticut Director, Anne Hulick stated: “This work is so important. We help residents learn about free energy efficiency services that will help them save money on energy bills, make homes more comfortable and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. It really is a win-win-win!”
Goal:
The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness of the free energy efficiency services and help get more than 600 Waterbury residents to sign up this year. To do this, we’ve partnered with Mayor Pernerewski, NEST, Inc., and Riba Aspira to help spread the word and meet residents where they are. Clean Water Action’s Energy Justice Organizer and lifelong Waterbury resident, Sharod Blizzard, will be leading and coordinating events, forums and other options for direct community outreach.
What are energy efficiency services?
Connecticut’s program to make homes and buildings more energy efficient is a top goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heating and cooling. Many CT homes are older and poorly insulated with old windows and many areas in the home that are drafty. This means that residents use more energy to heat and cool their homes, driving up energy costs and emissions. Sealing up leaks throughout the home can save residents more than $200/year, freeing up money for other important items.
Connecticut’s energy efficiency program has certified, specially trained contractors that schedule a convenient appointment to come to homes, conduct tests to determine where leaks occur, seal up those leaks on the spot, and shift out less efficient faucets and shower heads. All these measures go a long way to make homes more efficient and comfortable—and the service is often free.
Why doesn’t everyone sign up?
There are many barriers to participation including language barriers, residents juggling multiple priorities, mistrust of the Utilities and not having easily accessible, on-the spot information. We’re here to help!
Our team looks forward to being at community events, forums, doing door to door outreach and working with local, trusted community partners to identify the best ways to meet residents where they are and make participation easy.
