Efficiency First

The Weatherization Assistance Program at Springfield Partners for Community Action (Springfield, Mass.) has been helping low-income Hampden county families for the past 25 years. Last year they served more than 1,000 families and homes with weatherization services　

In every county throughout the nation, community action agencies, local governments　and other non-profit entities oversee their own staff or contractors. These contractors, in turn, screen home owner applications and perform energy assessments of income-qualified homes.

Technicians air-seal and insulate the structures, as indicated by the on-site, energy assessments. They may also repair or replace heating and cooling systems, or appliances, when necessary for safety reasons or to achieve significant, cost-effective energy savings.

All WAP home energy improvements are guided by the initial whole-house energy audit. Every dollar of WAP funds spent on energy efficiency improvements must return more than one dollar in energy savings, while also providing for energy-related safety. High value improvements, those yielding the most energy saved for the money spent, are undertaken first.

DOE provides technical and financial oversight of the grantee agencies. 　The Weatherization Assistance Program and DOE financial staff review and approve grantees’ annual WAP plans and then monitor their work, making sure that contracted work stays on track.

DOE federal staff and contractors also provide training and technical assistance for WAP grantees and local agencies throughout the year.　 Every action is geared toward assuring that recipient households receive the best possible weatherization service and that federal dollars are maximized to purchase the most energy efficiency bang for the buck.

WAP funding is appropriated by Congress and allocated by regulatory formula to grantee agencies, which as of 2009 include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, two Native American tribes and five U.S. territories. The allocation formula for WAP funds considers low-income population as well as heating and cooling factors specific to local climate.

The grantee agency must file its annual plan with DOE to describe how it will administer the WAP funds in accordance with federal rules and other applicable guidance.　 Each grantee’s plan lays out which local agencies will be used and how they will conduct their work to ensure that all areas within the grantee’s geographic　 boundary will be served.

More than 900 local weatherization agencies nationwide, which may be units of local government, Indian tribes, community action agencies or other non-profit organizations, carry out the actual weatherization work in the recipients’ homes. They work as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The following videos explain, far better than just words alone can do, how weatherization actually works in different situtations:D.C. area videoMaryland video

Florida videoOther sources of WAP information:

National Community Action Foundation　
National Association for State Community Services Program　
Weatherization Assistance Program Technical Assistance CenterArizona video