BRATTLEBORO — Four Windham County towns have been chosen to receive approximately $52,000 in grant funds to help reduce their carbon footprints, reduce overall energy consumption, and save money on heating costs in municipal buildings.
The grants, awarded by the Windham Regional Commission, are part of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 via Vermont's Clean Energy Development Fund.
The Windham Regional Commission's Energy Committee reviewed 15 applications, totaling over $170,000 in requests, from ten towns seeking to “green” their town offices, garages, fire stations, town halls, and schools.
The Grafton Town Hall, Londonderry Town Office, Marlboro Town Office, and Newfane Town Office have been selected to receive a portion of the $52,000 in grant funds.
Funds will be used to help towns button up their buildings with improvements like air sealing, foundation and attic insulation, and wrapping heat ducts. By completing these retrofits, it is estimated that the four towns will achieve a total annual savings of approximately $9,000 and 37 tons of CO2 – the equivalent of nearly 3,000 gallons of heating oil each year. These savings will also help reduce the local tax burden associated with rising fuel costs.
The grants for weatherization are an extension of a successful program earlier this year, where seven towns received grant funds to conduct energy audits on fourteen buildings to help them understand where they could save energy and money.
Those towns not selected to receive retrofit funding may still choose to independently complete renovations recommended by their energy audits. Each energy audit includes the projected costs of retrofits and anticipated fuel savings, allowing towns to evaluate the long term financial benefits of making retrofits now to avoid fuel costs in future years.
The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) is an association of 27 towns, and is one of the state's 11 Regional Planning Commissions established by the Vermont Municipal and Regional Planning and Development Act. The WRC's mission is to assist member towns to provide effective local government and to work cooperatively with them to address regional issues.