Energize Vermont Announces Grant Program to Support WindowDressers Workshops in Vermont Towns

Grants will fund outreach to support community workshops to assemble energy-saving window inserts

Energize Vermont will award Energy Committee Assistance Grants to fund outreach and communication efforts to support WindowDressers workshops in Vermont towns. At the workshops, community volunteers collaborate to assemble the good-looking custom-fit inserts, consisting of plastic film stretched over wooden frames, for use in area homes.

Grant funds may be used to publicize upcoming Window Dressers projects, solicit orders for window inserts, and recruit and train volunteer workshop participants. The Energy Committee Assistance Grant Program is an element of Energize Vermont’s Climate Action Program, which promotes a response to climate change that reduces consumption, limits energy sprawl, and preserves the natural resources that defend Vermont against climate impacts.

The inserts work like storm windows, but they are much less expensive and far easier to install and remove.  They fit on the inside of an existing window, adding two insulating spaces and improving the air seal. A window insert can save as much as one gallon of heating oil per square foot of window per heating season. The price of a 30” x 60” insert will be about $42, and special pricing is available to low-income residents.

The effort will have technical and material support from Maine’s non-profit WindowDressers, which developed the community approach to energy savings. Over the past eight years, WindowDressers has conducted over 106 workshops in Maine. The workshops have engaged thousands of community volunteers, produced over 35,000 window inserts, and saved Maine residents an estimated 880,000 gallons of fuel oil.

The Energy Committee Assistance Grant Application for 2019 may be found here.  Grant applications may be submitted to Energize Vermont through August 31, 2019. Grant awards will be announced by September 15.

Town energy committees or other community groups that are interested in learning more about Energize Vermont’s Grant Program or about WindowDressers community workshops in Vermont may contact Judith Jackson at Judith@EnergizeVermont.org or Mark Whitworth at Mark@EnergizeVermont.org. To learn more about WindowDressers, please visit www.WindowDressers.org.