Energy-upgrade work party at Shiloh Church in Medford

The Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) is doing weatherization barn-raising on Saturday, Nov 19th at 9am at the Shiloh Baptist Church.

You may recall that HEET helped Grace Church do our own weatherization barnraising that was amazingly successful last year.  I encourage everyone that can, regardless of skill level to join in and lend a hand.  You'll definitely meet some great people and if you're not careful, you might learn something too.

Details:

Saturday, November 19, 2011

9am to 1pm

Shiloh Baptist Church in West Medford

1 Holton & Bower

West Medford, MA 02155

Please sign up so they know how many to expect.  You can choose to be a normal volunteer, a team leader in training or if you really know what you are doing a team leader.  They can use all skill levels.


Sign Up for Energy-Upgrade work party at Shiloh Baptist Church

Here is some snippets from the sign up form about the event:

• Shiloh Baptist Church, a low income, primarily black church needs some help reducing its energy bill. We will install efficient light bulbs, low-flow water measures, reduce drafts and build interior storm windows to reduce those cold winter drafts. 
• Learn how to reduce your own energy bill, while helping a church reduce its bills so it can continue to deliver great community services such as its food pantry, computer lab and community space.

Please invite your friends and neighbors too, but please sign up in advance.

Peace,
Jon

Grace Church is involved in the organization of the event, but I felt it was an event of interest to our community and one worth sharing broadly.

Join the Global Local 10-10-10 Events - Getting Involved

350.org, which was started by a fellow New England Episcopalian, Bill McKibben, is organizing a Global Work Party on this Sunday, October 10th aka 10/10/10 as a call to action to address climate change.  With over 6,300 events across 187 countries already planned, this will be a massive effort to raise awareness world wide about the need for action to address climate change.

Grace Church has contributed left over supplies from our recent HEET Weatherization Barnraising to the Barnraising ATO at Tufts event being organized by Tufts students who volunteered at our own barnraising a few weeks ago.  This is a great opportunity to lend a hand, learn something new and have some fun.  Join Alicia Hunt and others.  For more details visit the Barnraising ATO at Tufts invitation.

If a little caulking and changing light bulbs is not your preferred way to spend a Sunday afternoon, there are lots of events planned one town over in Winchester ranging from guided walking tours to bike rides to a movie night on the Commons.  For a full list of local 10/10/10 events check out the 350.org Map of Action - 10/10/10 events in and around Medford.


View Actions at 350.org
The Lord has called us to be stewards of this Earth our fragile home.  Get involved!

Energy/Water Saving Parts and Materials used for HEET

The following companies and organizations helped by providing us with materials for the HEET Barn-Raising.

Hillside Hardware (325 Boston Ave, Medford)

Our local hardware store that has been very good to Grace Church over the years.
Parts/Materials used

• Weather Stripping Kits for doors
• Caulk for around windows (Siliconized Latex in brown, white and clear)
• Misc Nails

Advanced Energy Panels - Albany, NY

Interior Storm Window

Jim Devine went to extraordinary lengths to get us the interior storm windows in time for the event.  They do custom fit interior storm windows as well as DIY kits.  We installed 4 AEP interior storms at the back of the stage to eliminate the cold draft that has been coming through those very leaky stained glass windows.  Installation was a breeze.  Check out their site for video instructions on measuring and assembling kits.

Parts/Materials

• 4 AEP Interior Storm Windows custom built to fit

Energy Federation Incorporated (EFI) - Westbourough, MA

Q-lon weather stripping kits being
installed on double doors

EFI is the go to supplier for other HEET events as well as for many energy auditors in the New England area.  They have a wide range of good quality affordable products for saving energy and water including CFLs, faucet aerators, insulation and more.  They even sell the AEP interior storm window kits.  They environmentally friendly packaging and are great all around to work with.

Parts/Materials used (EFI Part# Description)

Toilet Tank Bank

• 5000.58 AUBE TH 140-28-01-B millivolt
• 6560.052 TAYL Refrigerator Therm. #3507
• 7005.149 BITS SmartSurge 7-Outlet SCG3
• 3540.13 Q-lon White w/Metal Carrier
• 3540.18 Q-lon White w/Wood Carrier
• 5010.16 Intermatic TN311C Timer 120v
• 3020.10 NIAG N3137 Toilet Tank Bank
• 1100.324 20w Earthmate T-2 Spiral 27k
• 1100.322 13w Earthmate T-2 Spiral 27k
• 1100.325 23w Earthmate T-2 Spiral 27k
• 4000.031 MD 3/4" Pipe Ins. 4x3' pieces
• 3000.422 WHE UA1C Ultra Saver Aerator

MA Water Resource Authority (MWRA)

low flow shower head, faucet aerators
and toilet leak detection dye pack

MWRA supplies water for most of the Metro-Boston area.  They are big into water conservation and will provide home owners with free low flow water fixtures:

• low flow 2.0 gpm shower heads
• 1.5 gpm faucet aerators
• toilet leak detection (dye packets)

MWRA provided us these materials for free and we handed out the shower heads, faucet aerators and dye packets at the HEET and have some left over.  Talk to Jonathan if you would use these in your homes or apartments.  You can request more from the MWRA site.

Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) - Cambridge, MA

Without help from HEET to identify the projects to tackle and help organize the event, it would not have been as successful as it was.  A special thanks to Audrey Schulman for her assistance, coaching and support.  They can always use more volunteers and have several barn-raisings planned already for this fall.

HEET Barn-Raising Big Success!

Congratulations and Thank You to all the volunteers that came out to help on Monday.  What a great event and we made a difference. We had over 30 volunteers from Tufts, Grace Church, Medford and beyond.

A longer post with more details will be coming out, but for now here are the preliminary numbers from Monday. Our work should result in the following annual savings for Grace Church:

• 6,400 pounds of CO2 emissions avoided per year
• 34,000 gallons of water saved per year
• $1,300 saved on energy and water bills per year

Check out the slide show of some photos from the event.  If you have some photos, please contact me at jmhunt@mit.edu.

May God be with you!

Join Grace Church for a Weatherization Barn-Raising Party

Are you interested in learning how to save energy and money at home?  Come learn new skills while helping to weatherize Grace Church in Medford.

When: Monday, August 30th 4-8PM
Where: Grace Church, 160 High St, Medford, MA

Please sign up in advance

We will have experienced energy savers on hand to teach you techniques to save energy and conserve water. Learn hands on by applying these techniques on our church and then take your new skills home and apply them there.

Projects to be undertaken include:

• window & door air sealing
• water conservation
• programmable thermostats
• and more.

We can also use more leaders who are already skilled in these areas to help teach and coordinate others.

We will be joined by a group of incoming freshmen from the CAFE group at Tufts. After the afternoon of working together, we will all celebrate with some pizza in the common room.  Even if you cannot join us at the start, please sign up and come by after work on Monday.

On site childcare is available for those who request it in advance (through the registration system).

This barn-raising is organized in part by HEET Cambridge.  

Thanks,
Jonathan, Alicia and Rachael