Baltimore Residents Get Energy Help

December 17, 2007 

BALTIMORE (AP) - Some 300 low- to moderate-income homes in Northeast Baltimore are getting help, as temperatures fall and fuel prices rise, from an energy-efficiency initiative by the urban service corps Civic Works.

Project Light Bulb is a three-month pilot program that began this month. It promised to provide energy-conserving devices to residents of the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello and Belair-Edison neighborhoods who are having difficulties with their utilities bills.

Civic Works and the Abell Foundation, which agreed to fund the program with a $67,375 grant, began talking about the program over the summer after observing a similar program in Denver, said Dana Stein, Civic Works' executive director.

"Energy efficiency has always been important to us," said Stein, who pointed out that a rise in energy costs gave the project greater urgency. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. rates rose 72 percent this year.

Civic Works is a local branch of the national nonprofit AmeriCorps. It usually employs local youths, who receive modest wages during their service and education grants upon completion.

Monday through Thursday, Project Light Bulb sends two teams to Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello and Belair-Edison. Civic Works estimates that residents in those areas spend more than 30 percent of their monthly household income on owner costs and mortgage payments.

Civic Works assesses and adjusts to the energy habits of households in need. The goal, according to Earl Millett, a Civic Works community developer, is to "reduce energy without reducing comfort."

One day in December, AmeriCorps volunteers Andrea Hammer, 25, and George Jacobs, 50, spent an hour working on the home of Diane Glasgow, 60, in Belair-Edison.

Hammer and Jacobs replaced a living room light bulb with a 14-watt compact fluorescent bulb, which uses 75 percent less energy and lasts 10 times longer than a conventional bulb.

The pair then moved to Glasgow's dining room, where they installed a carbon monoxide detector above the door to her basement. As they installed the detector, they explained that carbon monoxide leaks generally come from basements. Educating residents, Millett said, is important to the success of the project, as is talking with them.

"If you get a senior who likes having someone to talk to, take your time and stay a while. It's part of the service," he said.

"People have been receptive and happy," Hammer said. "It's nice to know that we're helping people save money and also helping the environment."

The team replaced 11 light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs provided by BGE, which donated 1,000 bulbs to the project. They also traded one bathroom faucet and one kitchen faucet with aerators that can save half a gallon of water every minute. The shower head was also swapped for one that saves two gallons of water per minute.

Hammer and Jacobs told Glasgow that her thermostat might be set too high at 76. A heating bill increases 2 percent to 4 percent for every degree the thermostat is set above 68.

Volunteers will return in February to follow up on the houses. They will compare this winter's energy bills with last winter's and gather final program data.

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