U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Weatherization Assistance Program
The Weatherization Assistance Program enables low-income families to permanently reduce their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient. It is this country's longest running, and perhaps most successful energy efficiency program. During the last 27 years, the U.S. Department of Energy 's (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program has provided weatherization services to more than 5.3 million low-income families. In 2004, the goal is to weatherize 94,450 homes, which is a program metric.
By reducing the energy bills of low-income families instead of offering aid, weatherization reduces dependency and liberates these funds for spending on more pressing family issues. On average, weatherization reduces heating bills by 31% and overall energy bills by $237 per year. This spending, in turn, spurs low-income communities toward job growth and economic development.
Weatherization has helped spawn an energy efficiency industry for residential housing. This industry today employs 8,000 people who work in low-income weatherization alone, and many times that number work in companies that help homeowners increase their energy efficiency through low-cost measures. Many of the techniques that are today standard procedure in this industry were first developed and tested by the Weatherization Program. And through weatherization, DOE continues to develop and test in the field new advances in home energy science.
Weatherization Works! It is more than a slogan; it's a fact!
