As developments in the field of energy efficiency and changes in regulations and policy continue to come about at a federal level, a group has formed in Issaquah with the aim of helping local homeowners understand what all the fuss is about.
The Home Energy Efficiency Group is a project of the long-established Sustainable Issaquah, which considers energy efficiency one its many focal points.
Sustainable Issaquah realized that as the technology, politics and economics of the scene changed, so they needed to keep the people of Issaquah in the loop.
Sustainable Issaquah charged Gary Wood with the task of putting the group together. Wood recently moved from work in traditional home remodeling to exploring construction and retrofitting practices which are more energy and cost efficient, and, in his words, “also treading more lightly on the planet.”
The group hopes to make information about how to make homes more energy efficient readily available to homeowners in the area – like many of us, the general intention of energy efficiency makes sense but often the details do not.
Wood hopes that his new group will fill that void between theory and practice.
Another of the stated aims of the group is to help homeowners identify and take advantage of a range of existing financial incentives to make energy-efficiency improvements, and to obtain home energy audits that are understandable, actionable, affordable and will result in cost-effective energy savings.
“This is a community-focused interest group,” Wood said. “Industry professionals may be available as resources, to help homeowners understand their best and most cost-effective options, rather than market their services. The discussion will be generated by the homeowners themselves.”
Wood said that the purpose of the group was as a forum for residents more so than industry professionals, an information resource and place of collaboration for homeowners.
The home energy group is an off-shoot of the long-established Sustainable Issaquah, which considers energy efficiency one its many focal points.
Sustainable Issaquah realized that as the technology, politics and economics of the scene changed, so they needed to keep the people of Issaquah in the loop.
Wood’s group will also compliment the work being done by Matt Tighe’s Green Energy Club, which continues to meet monthly at the Eastside Fire and Rescue Station in the Issaquah Highlands, and of which Wood is a member.
In the past few months, the continued good-will toward environmental protection and community sustainability in Issaquah has been refreshed with a new burst of genuine action, driven largely by Sustainable Issaquah and people like Wood and Tighe.
“The success of the Sustainable Issaquah Home Energy Efficiency Group depends entirely upon active community interest and participation,” Wood said.
The group will meet from 6:30-8:30 p.m., this Thursday, Sept. 3, at the Regional Library Building in Issaquah (not the Front St. Branch), 960 Newport Way NW.
For more on Gary Wood and home energy efficiency, see this recent story in The Reporter.
