Homeowner Education and Non-Profit Collaboration

Today the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative met in Richmond and my (utterly exhausted) two cents were that I am tired of publicity and I'm hungry for action. We've got these "demo projects" we'd like to make into a reality, but we're so far from a solid plan that it's hard to know where to go next. Specifically the demo project ideas are to
1) start farmers growing pelletizable crops on underutilized agricultural land (so as not to reduce the food supply)
2) pelletize said crops (ideally one industrial size universal pelletizer per county) and
3) work with LIHEAP to get pellet lots of 500 stoves per county into low income houses.


We'd need a business plan, and funding and a collegiate consortium-run research facility to answer questions like "what specific blend of prairie grasses is best?" "How do pellet stoves work in a mobile home?"


But this was (in my mind) too big. We needed something easier to chew on. LIHEAP is good, but it's middle to upper class folks with capital who need to know that this technology is reliable, financially viable, and eco-friendly. Homeowners would seriously jump for this if they only knew!

So that's where I proposed we start. We hold educational meetings in Bristol, Montpelier, and Burlington (in that order) directly aimed at middle-upper class homeowners. If we can get a critical mass of homeowners in one town to agree to purchase pellet stoves, then we can hook them up with cheaper bulk purchases of pellets from local suppliers. That would be the main focus of the meeting.

Meanwhile we're planning to talk to Hal Colston of Good News Garage and NeighborKeepers about cooperating with his newest project: Wood for the Common Good (maybe we can adapt that to Grasses for the Masses?). The rumor is that hasn't taken off quite as planned, but we've got a huge force and energy to put into it, but we'd want to adapt the program to include high-density perennial pellets, and possibly set up a carbon offset program (I may talk them out of that plan). My job is to talk to Hal Colston, and set up a meeting with him and the rest of the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative.

(Gosh, I can't believe I'm trying to do all this and get National Board Certification simultaneously!)

Weatherization Team and Pellet Stove Non-Profit

Today at the weekly Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative meeting, the idea came up for us to start a non-profit that people could donate to in order to help get pellet stoves in the hands of LIHEAP recipients.

This rolls in with my idea for a church-based volunteer weatherization team. After talking with my dad this idea seems to be taking shape a bit more. There are plenty of guys from North Avenue Alliance who are pretty handy, and we could get CVOEO to host a training, and then go to people's houses, do an evaluation, and then send a team of people to do the work (caulking, insulating, etc.). Why not?

It could be like it's own organization like Care Net, or the Burlington Emergency Shelter, which both get support from area churches. They're inter-ecclesiastical and really they have to be because the scope of their work.

One thing though - I should check with Hal Colston (Good News Garage, and Neighbor Keepers) cause I think he may be starting a new fuel-based non-profit, so maybe he's already doing this stuff! :)

And to tie in something Hal taught me, if we did this weatherization volunteer program, I don't think it's enough to say, "here you go! welcome to fuel savings! Bye." The recipient needs to commit to give back somehow. Hopefully by reducing their consumption in some way. And if it were church people, perhaps the recipient could host a potluck where they bring nothing, but then the people who worked there could get to know the home owners.