Setting the record straight on weatherization

Setting the record straight on weatherization
Tags: Energy Audits, Maintenance & Repair
August 31, 2010

Late last month, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to New Hampshire to reveal that more than 200,000 homes have been weatherized as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, helping U.S. families to reduce energy consumption and cut energy bills. Following Biden's appearance, the Associated Press ran an article critical of the announcement, suggesting that the Administration hasn’t acknowledged that the program got off to a slower start than expected.

Dan Leistikow, director of public affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy, recently posted a blog entry to clarify the AP article. Leistikow notes that while it took longer than hoped to ramp up weatherization efforts, the program has made incredible progress. In June, more than 31,000 homes were weatherized – above the government's target rate -- putting the program on track to meet its goal of completing 600,000 homes.

From the blog:

Unfortunately, the Associated Press story is based on individual anecdotes about individual states or contractors without providing the whole context of the program. And the story never disputes the most important fact of all: the weatherization program has accelerated dramatically in recent months and is now on pace to meet the goal.

The article selectively includes a few negative anecdotes while avoiding any mention of the great many examples of the program’s growing success, including:

In Ohio nearly 15,000 low-income families are already feeling the benefits of reduced energy bills and nearly 1,400 workers are on the job providing energy efficiency services to homeowners.
In Idaho, the state has already weatherized nearly three-quarters of the state’s planned homes.
In Colorado, where more than 4,300 homes have already been weatherized, local veterans are being put back to work weatherizing homes.
In Vermont, the state has weatherized nearly 70 percent of their expected total, already completing more than 1,100 homes.