“LET’S MAKE IT JUST!” Weatherization for a Just Transition

by 350VT Intern, Claire Greenburger

Thousands of Vermonters are struggling to keep their homes adequately heated and cooled. “We have folks living in mobile homes with large leaks or actual holes in the walls or floors, making their homes really leaky from a weatherization and air sealing perspective,” says Benjamin Bolaski, Energy Auditor at Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA). 

These homes––with leaky roofs and holes––are burning more fossil fuels than they need to be. “We have some folks that are keeping the thermostat in their homes at a reasonable temperature, but going through four or five gallons of heating fuel a day. So, you're looking at 30 to 40 bucks a day just to heat your home. And on a low income budget, that's quite a lot,” says Bolaski. This means that some Vermonters are spending 1,000 dollars a month just to keep their families warm. The issue at hand is twofold: low-income Vermonters are struggling to pay their heating and cooling bills, meanwhile burning excess gas, which is emitted into the atmosphere. 

The high rates for heating and cooling are not confined to Vermont alone: according to a Census Bureau survey, more than 43 million Americans have been unable to pay an energy bill in the past year. As a result, more than a million homes have had their utilities shut off. In the depths of winter, or in the middle of a summer heat wave, these utility shut-offs can pose a threat to the health and lives of Vermonters. 

Too often, low-income Vermonters have been unaccounted for in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. “So often, there's talk about putting new electric vehicle chargers downtown or getting heat pumps for cafes or office buildings––but what about the people not in the city centers, living out in the rural communities that are struggling?” asks Bolaski. 

This legislative session, 350Vermont has committed to creating an energy future that benefits working people and the most vulnerable communities. Weatherizing low-income homes is a critical step in achieving this goal. “A little bit more than a third of our greenhouse gas emissions come from heating our buildings,” Scott Zens told Envisioning Vermont, the 350Vermont podcast, highlighting the need for weatherization to reduce emissions. 

The Vermont legislature allocated  $80 million for low and moderate-income Vermonters interested in weatherizing their homes. To further incentivize weatherization, we need to pass an Affordable Heating Act (AHA) that does not include biofuels as a source of renewable energy. The AHA, which is currently under consideration in the VT legislature, would regulate emissions from the heating of our homes, businesses, and other buildings. It would require fossil fuel dealers to earn clean heat credits by switching their fuel supply over time from fossil fuels to approved alternatives. The bill is a revision of the 2022 Clean Heat Standard (CHS) that passed the legislature but was vetoed by the governor. Rather than allowing false solutions, including  liquid biofuels, renewable natural gas, biomass, and hydrogen from earning clean heat credits, the bill should prioritizes solutions like heat pumps, weatherization, and networked geothermal energy, which support our local economy, protect consumers, and keep heating bills low for everyday Vermonters.

The Southeastern Vermont Community Action organization (SEVCA) has risen to the challenge, weatherizing over 150 single family homes each year, which includes both mobile homes, site-built residences, and multifamily housing buildings. Weatherization entails making a variety of modifications to homes––insulating walls, installing storm doors and windows, and replacing draft doors––to increase their energy efficiency. SEVCA works alongside four other Vermont agencies to reach the ambitious goal of weatherizing 90,000 homes by 2030. “I think [that goal] is fantastic,” says Bolaski. “However, that is quite a lofty goal.”

Weatherizing homes is a win-win for Vermont residents: “Not only are we saving people money and [reducing] carbon emissions from the work that we do by weatherizing and tidying up the home, but when we're all finished with our work, people can take pride in where they live again. They're going from a mobile home that has holes in it, pest issues, and rain coming in, to a point where they can be comfortable and take pride in it and then use the money that they're saving to live their lives and feed their families,” says Bolaski. “It’s super rewarding.”

For Vermont to reach its weatherization targets, there are a few obstacles that the state must overcome. “The funding has been really helpful,” says Pawlowski, “but I think there's a couple areas that would help us to advance our goals.” Increasing home repair funding is essential to weatherizing more homes. Many households are ineligible for weatherization due to pre-existing health or safety issues. These issues, ranging from leaking roofs to mold, must be addressed before organizations, like SEVCA, can weatherize those houses. “The most vulnerable can’t afford to make these fixes. They’re trapped in a cycle that keeps their energy burden disproportionately high,” Alexis Blizman, legislative and policy director at the Ecology Center, told Grist. 

Bolaski also calls for more people to join the trade: “Plumbers, heating technicians, and electricians are really in high demand right now.” Increasing training programs in high schools that could encourage students to go into those fields “would keep talent local and keep folks in a field that is growing, and it would help towards our climate goals.”

Incentives for weatherization efforts have been on the rise. The Weatherization Repayment Assistance program launched in December, which allows Vermonters to pay for weatherization through financing on their utility bills. “We’re targeting lower- and moderate-income Vermonters because we know that Vermont's housing and businesses make up, like, one-third of the state's greenhouse gas emissions,” Maura Collins, executive director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, told the Vermont Digger. “We have among the oldest housing stocks in the nation, and so there's a real need to weatherize homes.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in March, directs $3.5 billion to the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). This funding “allows states to retrofit thousands of low-income homes to make them healthier and more energy efficient while lowering utility bills.” The funding will also create jobs and reestablish “economic opportunities in communities that have been hit the hardest by economic, racial, and environmental injustices.” 

Environmental justice advocate, Earl Hatley, is calling for top-down weatherization funding. Hatley told Envisioning Vermont, the 350VT podcast, that the funding should be there “so that our organizations on the ground can help folks make this transition. This is the conservation that I am talking about––not make people scramble . . . make it available, make these programs funded so that the organizers can then show folks how to get the funding. . . We need help making that transition and making that transition just for the low-income folks and for the renters as well, so the landlords have an incentive to make that transition.”

Protester at the Climate & Energy Justice Rally on 2/11/23. Photo Credit: Fritz Senftleber

Hately also calls for redirecting government funds. “The Defense Production Act for example, that put all these subsidies to the mining industry––grab that and put that back into conservation,” says Hatley. 

“Let’s make this transition just. This is the ‘just transition’ in conservation that I’m talking about. This is what we can do in Vermont,” says Hatley.