Guide for Organizing a Home Energy Savings Workshop in Your Community

Download the Guidefor Organizing a Button Up Workshop (Word)

Download a Press Kit (PDF)

Download a Press Kit (Word)

Overview

Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC), with funding from the State of Vermont Agency of Human Services, and in partnership with the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network (VECAN) and Efficiency Vermont, is implementing an intensive public education program, "Button Up Vermont," to mobilize Vermonters to save energy in their homes.  The objective of this program is to conduct home energy savings workshops in 100 communities -- reaching thousands of Vermonters.  In order to reach this goal, we need your help.

Button Up Components

Button Up Vermont is working in partnership with town energy committees, educational centers, civic groups, and other organizations throughout the state to help organize home energy saving workshops within their communities.  Through a series of two-hour workshops, residents will learn about the fundamentals of how buildings lose energy, do-it-yourself opportunities for saving energy, no-cost measures for reducing energy use, and health and safety concerns related to reducing air infiltration, among other topics.  Workshop participants will receive contact information for energy audit services, lending institutions that offer low-interest loans for energy retrofits, and other financial programs for energy assistance.

Button Up Vermont will arrange for a certified energy auditor to come to your community to give a prepared home energy savings Powerpoint/slideshow presentation at no cost.  We will provide you with posters that you can use to publicize the workshop in your community, along with copies of consumer educational materials. 

As a local workshop organizer, you will be responsible for coordinating with Button Up Vermont to arrange for a workshop presenter, find a suitable location for the workshop and undertake other logistical arrangements, publicize the program, coordinate with local retailers to provide discounted weatherization materials, and collect results of workshop participation levels. 

CVCAC, in partnership with Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network and the regional planning commissions, will invite town energy committees and community/educational groups to a series of regional meetings throughout the state to explain the program, provide educational and promotional materials, answer questions, and explore opportunities for inter-town cooperation.   

Steps for Organizing a Home Energy Savings Workshop

Workshop Presenters: If you haven't already, please contact Button Up Vermont to secure a date and we will arrange for a workshop presenter to come to your community (email -- Button-up@cvcac.org or call -- 802 279 1708).  We will provide you with the workshop presenter's contact information so that you can make necessary logistical arrangements.

We suggest that you find a community member to speak at the workshop who has recently had an energy audit and has implemented a comprehensive energy retrofit on their house.  Our preference is that you find someone who has used the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program to talk about their experience and how it improved their comfort and reduced their energy use.   Home Performance with ENERGY STAR is a national program from the U.S. EPA and U.S. Department of Energy, and is overseen locally by Efficiency Vermont.  It offers a comprehensive, whole-house approach to improving energy efficiency and comfort in your home.  On another note, you might consider inviting someone from your local fire department to say a few words about wood burning safety, chimney cleaning, and other fire safety tips.

Site Logistics:  As a local workshop organizer, you will be responsible for securing a meeting location, arranging food, finding audio-video equipment, and displaying educational materials.  Any costs associated with site logistics will be borne by local organizers. These site logistics are described below.

• Meeting space: We suggest finding a meeting room that can comfortably seat the anticipated number of participants from your community - which could range between 50 -200 people.  The room should be handicap accessible, if possible.  You should plan on conducting a walk-through of the space prior to the workshop to be sure the lighting and other mechanical details are in full working order.  We suggest that the Button Up workshop be the only activity taking place in the room at the time to minimize distractions.
  
  
• Food: We propose that you provide refreshments such as drinks and snacks, which can often be provided by local volunteers or through local business donations. 
  
  
• Audio-video equipment: You will need a laptop computer, a projection screen, and LCD projector for the presentation.  Please be sure to have an relatively recent version of "Powerpoint" (a slide presentation software) on the laptop that you bring.  The workshop presenters will bring an electronic version of the presentation to use on your computer. You will also need some type of audio system with speakers or public address system that is appropriate for the room size.  We strongly encourage you to test all audio-video equipment well before the start of the workshop to ensure that it is working properly.   We suggest finding a community member knowledgeable in audio-visual equipment and PowerPoint to assist in your efforts.
  
  
• Educational materials:Button Up Vermont will provide you with educational materials, as well other pertinent handouts.  These materials will be distributed at the regional briefing sessions for you to take back to your community for distribution.  Button Up Vermont will also provide you with evaluation response and referral forms for you to distribute to all workshop participants (see below).  We can also mail publicity and educational materials to you, if necessary. 

Registration: we ask that you establish a workshop registration table and have all individuals attending the workshop sign in and provide their contact information, in case you want to follow-up with individuals.  We suggest setting up several tables near the entrance for educational materials.

Outreach: We encourage you to use a broad range of approaches for reaching out to residents in your community.  It is important that community members hear about the workshop from a variety of sources. Publicity professionals often refer to the "Rule of Three" which states that people must hear about an event three times before it makes its way onto their calendar!  We suggest using the following outreach methods, including:

• Personal contact: The most effective means for getting people to a workshop or meeting is personal contact - either through phone calls, giving announcements at other organizational meetings, or face-to-face conversations.  Also, consider sending invitations to certain participants who you think might benefit greatly from the workshop.

Network: We encourage you to network with other organizations in your community, such as the Area Agency on Aging, local food shelves, regional offices of the Center for Independent Living, civic groups like Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, and town officials.  An effective avenue for reaching out to these groups is to attend their meetings or send them notices about the workshop and asking them to inform their members.  If these groups also have a web site or e-newsletter, you can provide them with an announcement, electronic flyer, or other content for them to post and distribute within their list serves.

• Posters: As noted above, Button Up Vermont will provide each community with numerous copies of an 11? x 17? poster that announces the workshop and provides space for specific information about date, time, and location of your workshop, along with contact information.  You might also want to consider making mini-posters/flyers and placing stacks on the counters of local stores, businesses, library, post office, and other public locations.
  
  
• Media:  We encourage you to contact both local newspapers and radio stations to publicize the workshop:

Local Retailers:  We encourage you to work with local retailers to engage them in providing weatherization materials at discounted rates.  To help sell the idea to them, you can offer several benefits if they participate, including publicity, good will, and bolstering their image as a good "citizen" of the community.  Button Up Vermont will provide you with "retailer decals" for participating stores to place on their windows to indicate that they are part of the program. 

Materials to consider asking your local retailer to discount include: window kits, caulk and caulk guns, foam guns and cans of foam, and weatherstripping.  Retailers can offer discounts in a number of ways, including "Buy 2 - Get 1 Free," or receiving 50% off of specific items.  We suggest asking for a discount total of $10-20.  We also suggest that you encourage local retailers to attend the workshop to confirm the promotional efforts that they are offering.

Many retailers are already participating in a program to sell discounted compact fluorescent lightbulbs through Efficiency Vermont.  These retailers may also be interested in offering discounts on weatherization materials. 

For a list of participating retailers in the CFL program, see www.efficiencyvermont.com/pages/Residential/Marketplace. 

Monitor Results: As part of our efforts to monitor the impact of the program, we ask that you let Button Up Vermont know the total number of people who attend your workshop.  We are also interested in other indicators for measuring the impact of the program. For example, we ask that if possible, you collect data on the number of participants who actually purchase low-cost materials.  One way to keep track of this information is to ask the local retailer to keep tabulations of how many customers purchased certain discounted materials.  Further, as noted above, Button Up Vermont will provide you with ?Evaluation Response and Referral Forms? to distribute to workshop participants.   These response cards will help us understand the effectiveness of the presentation and will include a space where individuals can request more information about home energy savings.   We ask for your assistance in distributing and collecting the response cards at the end of the workshop, and then returning these cards to Button Up Vermont. 

Resources:

Button Up Vermont: If you are interested in having a Button Up workshop in your community, please contact Diana Peduzzi, Assistant Coordinator, Button Up Vermont at Button-up@cvcac.org (802 279 1708), or Paul Markowitz, Coordinator, Button Up Vermont at paul@markowitzvt.com (802 229 6307).  

Help for Vermont:  For a description of a wide range of programs to help Vermonters address food and fuel issues, see www.helpforvt.org or call 211.

Efficiency Vermont:  For an extensive description of efficiency improvements and resources for helping improve energy efficiency in your home and business, see www.efficiencyvermont.org or call Toll-free: 1-888-921-5990.

VermontEnergy and Climate Action Network:  for assistance in forming a local energy committee or guidance in undertaking local energy projects. Contact Bob Walker@ Sustainable Energy Resource Group -- 802 785 4128 (Robert.J.Walker@valley.net); or Deb Sachs @ Alliance for Climate Action -- 802 658 8487 (dsachs@10percentchallenge.org); or Joey Miller @ Vermont Natural Resources Council ? 802 223 2328 (jmiller@vnrc.org); or Paul Markowitz @ VT Chapter of Sierra Club ? 802 229 6307 (paul@markowitzvt.com).

Proposed Agenda for Workshops:
Download this Document in Word

Workshop Description and Agenda

Button Up Vermont is working in partnership with town energy committees, educational centers, civic groups, and other organizations throughout the state to help organize free home energy saving workshops within their communities.

Through a series of two-hour workshops, residents will learn about the fundamentals of:

• how buildings lose energy
• do-it-yourself opportunities for saving energy
• no-cost measures for reducing energy use and
• health and safety concerns related to reducing air infiltration.

Workshop participants will receive educational materials on measures they can undertake themselves, contact information for energy audit services, lending institutions that offer low-interest loans for energy retrofits, and other information.

Button Up Vermont is a new initiative of the Central Vermont Community Action Council, in partnership with the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network and Efficiency Vermont. Funding is provided by the Vermont Agency of Human Services.

Sample Agenda for Button Up Vermont Workshop

Button Up Vermont -- Home Energy Saving Workshop 

Workshop Goals

The goals of the Button Up workshop are to improve residents? understanding of:

• How your home loses energy
• Some of the most cost-effective solutions for saving energy
• An understanding of what you can do yourself and when you need a professional
• Some basic weatherization and energy conservation tips
• Health and safety issues associated with improving efficiency
• Technical and financial resources available

Proposed Agenda

6:30        Refreshments, Registration

7:00        Welcome and Agenda Overview local organizers)

• Welcome participants
• Review agenda for the evening
• Acknowledge elected officials, other folks
• Introduce workshop presenter

7:10        Workshop Overview(workshop presenter)

• Brief introduction by workshop presenter
• Workshop goals;  key workshop components

7:20        Efficiency and Conservation(workshop presenter)

• No-cost actions: no-cost actions you can take to save energy
• Low-cost actions: relatively low-cost actions you can take to save energy
• Questions and answers

7:50        Buttoning Up Your Home(workshop presenter)

• Principles of building heat loss ? how buildings lose energy
• Understanding the thermal envelope: thermal and air barriers
• Finding and fixing the leaks: areas of the house with the biggest energy savings
• Thermal barrier: where insulation is needed
• Questions and answers

8:30        Health and Safety Issues Associated with Buttoning Up(workshop presenter)

• Addressing moisture, volatile organic chemicals, carbon monoxide, back drafts, and asbestos
• Ensuring adequate ventilation
• Questions and answers

8:40        Professional Services and Assistance(workshop presenter)

• Home Performance Assessment and Retrofit: what it involves and where to go
• Financial incentives and low-interest loans
• Other assistance
• Questions and answers

8:50        Wrap Up/Other Comments(local organizer)

9:00        Adjourn