Just when you thought Pennsylvania had survived the recession with minimal battle scars, the U.S. labor bureau releases its August unemployment figures, revealing that we lost 216,000 jobs in August. Despite the addition of billions of dollars of federal stimulus funding, it seems, for Pennsylvania at least, the recession is far from over. Even in Philadelphia, where unemployment figures were shielded in the early part of the recession by massive education and medical industries, the Keystone State's largest city has lost over 16,000 jobs this year. But the addition of new stimulus funding has led to a simple solution to help homeowners, save energy and create jobs. And it is available at any hardware store.
Weatherization—the process of sealing off energy leaks through common household improvements like caulking windows and adding insulation—is creating thousands of jobs for Philadelphia this year. With training programs popping up across the state, Philadelphia's weatherization leaders hope they can stop the city's 400,000 rowhomes from hemorrhaging valuable energy while creating jobs to help the sagging construction industry.
Liz Robinson is the executive director of the Energy Coordinating Agency, a 25 year-old non-profit. Her office is responsible for most of the weatherization projects going on in Philadelphia every day. She has also been charged with teaching homeowners about the benefits and the practicality of energy savings in the home.
"We try to focus on the savings and the available tax credits," Robinson says. "Because right now, there is no better return on investment available than energy efficiency in your own home."
Robinson manages teams of industry professionals teaching weatherization and other green jobs training across Philadelphia. Her teams are in homes daily, helping homeowners save hundreds of dollars per year. But beyond just monthly savings, the office of Weatherization Rehab and Asset Preservation (WRAP) makes sure these improvements are focused on the home's long-term value. By encouraging people to use quality materials and get certified installation whenever possible, WRAP has turned temporary fixes into improved home equity.
"A new, high efficiency furnace should last over 30 years and new insulation, if installed properly, should last forever," Robinson says. "But a white roof coating, which reflects sunlight to preserve a more traditional tar roof underneath, has to be recoated once every 10 years and then you never have to roof again. Many of these measures actually preserve the original materials so that your house is performing at a higher level."
These home improvements are no secret. As housing companies have weathered an unpredictable market the last several years, many smaller companies have made names for themselves offering these improvements. But it wasn't until Pennsylvania began creating jobs outside the free market through these improvements that it began to look like real job creation would happen.
Before 2007, Pennsylvania was way behind in terms of alternative energy, rated nearly dead last in energy diversification. But a strong state and local government commitment to alternative energy and job creation came at just the right time. When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed as the first order of business for President Barack Obama, plans were in place to ensure our state would have the funds needed to propel these new industries. Pennsylvania became one of the largest recipients of stimulus funding, with over $101 million going toward weatherization programs. And that is just 40 percent of the total funding our state is scheduled to receive. That can buy a lot of roof coating.
The man responsible for disbursing this funding is E. Craig Heim, Executive Director of the office of Energy Conservation and Weatherization. With a number of programs already in place across the state, it is Heim's job to make sure these programs have the materials and the manpower they need to insure significant impact, not just on the energy portfolio of Pennsylvania but on its economy.
"As we implement this multi-million dollar project, we are going to exponentially grow these weatherization programs from a base of about 500 workers across the state to around 1,500 people working to organize teams in their own localities," Heim says. "But it's not just job creation; it's materials, equipment and tools all bought from Pennsylvania. Not unlike the clunkers program, we are incentivizing a program in which people buy a lot of things, which helps the economy."
Like Robinson, some of Heim's job focuses on education and making people aware of what their laziness, ignorance or cavalier attitude toward energy conservation may be costing them.
"It is different in every home," Heim says. "In some cases it is getting people to stop using space heaters, which are the most notorious energy wasters. In some cases, just getting people to replace old appliances does the trick. We have even seen cases where the furniture is blocking the heating ducts."
For more information about what you can do to seal up your home, visit the US Department of Energy's weatherization assistance resource page.
John Steele is a freelance writer and blogger in Philadelphia. He enjoys music snobbery, trash television and laughing at hipsters. Send feedback here.
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Photos:
L-R Vickus Mahammatti, Jud Lindsay and Andre Wiley. The 3 have beem working for ECA for 9 years as a crew together.
A Training Room where employees learn to work on various types of heaters
Inside of truck that carries an insulation machine (L)
Insulation is seen inside warehouse. Every week a tractor trailer full is brought to the warehouse
All Photographs By : Jeff Fusco