[act-ma] Oct. 10 Global Work Day; and some interesting odds and ends.

Tue Oct 5 20:12:21 PDT 2010

It's getting kind of late for this, but forward if you can:

What you'll find below:

1. Oct. 10 350.org work day projects.  We have 10 sites across Eastern Mass.

2. Chorus Foundation gives HEET another grant!

3. NESEA's Green Homes Open House - TODAY.

4. Recycle Transport Service.

5. Arlington HEET looking for houses to weatherize.

6. Cheap ways to air-seal a fireplace.

7. Amazing deal on professional air-sealing training.

8. Job postings.

Oct. 10 Global Work Day

For Bill McKibben’s Global work day against climate change (350.org), we are
assisting with 10 different barn-raisings around greater Boston. Here are
the ones that need volunteers:

The address:  175 Richdale Ave. Cambridge

Time:  1:00-5:00pm - rain or shine, Oct. 10th

Contact:  heet.cambridge at gmail.com, or call Matthew at 617-491-6761

Work:  We will go door-to-door, handing out efficient compact-fluorescent
light bulbs (CFLs) in exchange for inefficient incandescent bulbs. Meet your
neighbors and hand them a gift.

The address:  16 Nevada St., Quincy

Time:  10am – 2pm, Oct. 10th

Contact:  "Patti Keville" <pkeville at gmail.com>

Work:  fireplace, gutters, Qlon on 5 doors, sweeps on 7, aerator, steel
wool/backer rod/caulking around a bunch of places, covering old radiator
pipe holes, and sewing a curtain to insulate (somewhat) an attic.

The address: 41 Freeland St., Worcester

Time:11 AM to 4:30 PM, Oct. 10th

Contact: "Peter Cutting" <pcutting67 at gmail.com>

Work: This is part of the Pondera project, lots of work in the attic and the
basement. If you’re interested, there will also be a sleep out in tents the
night before at Worcester's Institute Park to protest dirty fossil fuel.
http://justandstable.org/ <http://justandstable.org/>
www.energybarnraising.org

The address: 13 Gayhead St. Jamaica Plain

Time: 10 am - 3 pm, Oct. 10th

Contact: 617-909-2749  (Carl Lowenberg)

Work: lots of caulking, door weatherization, mortar and hand out CFLs.

_________________________________________________________________________________

 HEET just won a big grant from the Chorus Foundation

to work on buildings owned by nonprofits.

(YEAH!)

Thank you, Chorus Foundation.

_________________________________________________________________________________

NESEA’s Green homes open
house<http://www.nesea.org/openhouse/listings/?feature=&fuel=&state=MA&submit=GO>listings
- Saturday, Oct. 2nd.

Check out lots of green homes in your area and see what work people are
doing.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Recycle Transport Service:
John Fallon (one of our loyal team leaders) has a truck and will take your
stuff to the recycling center for a fee.  If you just cleaned out your
basement or ripped out a room, and your MiniCooper can't get everything to
the recycling center, give him a call.
1-978-921-2783

_________________________________________________________________________________

A-HEET is looking for Arlington homes to weatherize and would like to start
the ball rolling ASAP. If you, a friend or neighbor are interested in having
A-HEET air seal your home please contact us. As a reminder, homeowners pay
for materials (usually less than $500), have coffee and food for volunteers
in the morning and pizza in the afternoon. The last two homes we worked on
reduced air-infiltration by 30% and 29% respectively – a huge energy savings
and increase in comfort. http://arlingtonheet.org/
ArlHEET at gmail.com

_________________________________________________________________________________

Cheap ways to airseal a fireplace

If your fireplace damper isn’t closing well (possibly not at all), your
chimney can be a huge highway for heat loss out of your home all winter.
 Here are several ways to seal it inexpensively:

   - Fireplace balloon<http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/21_3284>:
   a balloon that you inflate inside the flue to seal it off.  When you want to
   have a fire, you deflate the balloon and pull it out.  After the fire, when
   the flue is cool again, you reinstall the balloon.  Cost @ $50 depending on
   the width of flue.
   - A properly sized beach ball jammed up inside the flue and inflated with
   a hand pump will do the same thing as a fireplace balloon.  It’s a lot
   cheaper, but you should tape a string onto the ball with a note that hangs
   down so an unknowing guest in your home (when crouching down to light the
   fire) will know to deflate the ball first.  Cost @ $3.
   - Cut Reflectix<http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh3/R-100012574/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053>(bubble
wrap with tinfoil on it) to cover the whole damper and tape it in
   place with foil tape.  You’ll have to scrub the inside of the chimney clean
   enough for the foil tape to stick well.  Check back in a week to make sure
   it’s still sticking.
   - Cut plywood to fit tight in the front opening of the fireplace.
    Glue/screw rigid
insulation<http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh3/R-100322374/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053>to
the backside of the plywood for insulation.  Then install foam
   tape<http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh3/R-100090883/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053>as
a gasket around the fireplace opening where the plywood touches the
   masonry to create an air-seal (make sure it’s far enough out of the
   fireplace the tape won’t catch on fire when you have a fire). When you want
   to have a fire, you pull out the plywood/insulation plug.  When the fire is
   done and the fireplace cool, you push it back in place.  You can paint a
   nice scene on the plywood and varnish it.  How Martha Stewart!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Air-sealing Training:

 The Mass Green Initiative has put together an amazing curriculum for
air-sealing which is 90% hands on: two-part spray foam, dense-pack cellulose
installation, air-sealing attics, basements and 9 hours of class time for
air-sealing capes (and so much more).

This 78 hour pilot program is subsidized so tuition is $250 (for a $2000
course). Hiring advantages are likely due to the heavy curriculum input from
consultants at CSG and CET.   BPI-designed props give an advantage for the
BPI certification test.

Tuition will go up in the future.

North Shore Community College
October 4- December 15
Monday and Wednesday 4:30-7:30
2 Saturdays 9-3:30
At the North Shore Technical High School
Middleton (off Rt. 114)
Questions: Call Judith Nast 978- 236-1211
or E-mail jnast at northshore.edu

Bristol Community College
October 18th -January 24th
Mondays and Thursdays
5:30 - 8:30
At the New Green Center
1082 Davol St.
Fall River

Questions: Call Julia Gold 508-678-2811x 2565
or E-mail Julia.Gold at bristolcc.edu

Springfield Technical Community College and Pittsfield Community College are
also hosting this pilot program

_________________________________________________________________________________

Efficiency first job postings <http://jobs.energyliberty.org/>
Cadmus group job postings <https://careers.cadmusgroup.com/apply/>

######################################################
The Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) is a Cambridge-based
     co-op bringing neighbors together to weatherize our homes
             and take the energy future into our own hands.
                            http://www.heetma.com/
######################################################

-- 
######################################################
The Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) is a Cambridge-based
     co-op bringing neighbors together to weatherize our homes
             and take the energy future into our own hands.
                            http://www.heetma.com/
######################################################
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