May 23, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Donna Oracion, 624-7404
More Than 1100 Roswell Households Receive Energy Efficiency Assistance
Since January of last year, a team of ENMU-Roswell energy efficiency technicians have been visiting homes throughout Roswell making cost saving improvements. Their work is now completed with some impressive results. According to Walt Davenport, Energy Efficiency Program coordinator, more than 9300 CFL light bulbs were installed, more than 6450 windows were caulked and about 1600 door weather strips were inserted in 1120 single family low income Roswell homes. The homes were serviced at no cost to the home owner. The program was administered by the Center for Workforce and Community Development and grant funded.
ENMU-Roswell partnered with the Salvation Army to identify the homes in need of the service. Xcel Energy provided guidance on energy saving methods and also provided CFL light bulbs to install in the homes. Energy efficiency technicians visited about 4 to 5 homes a day caulking exterior windows, installing weather stripping around doors, and replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient CFL light bulbs. These bulbs use 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer.
Davenport said these few simple and cost effective steps will make a significant reduction in monthly utility bills. “Most of the dwellings we visited were older homes where caulking and weather stripping are of considerable benefit,” said Davenport. “We received 1313 applications for this service and the majority of our applicants were senior citizens, although we did also have some younger individuals and families. We had some no-shows, so our success rate was about 81-percent.”
