| |  | | Photo "Icicles in Lincoln Park" by Flickr user Jon Vitale from our pool. |
by Shana Alford
12/10/09 When I think of winter I often think of ice skating, the holidays, hats and gloves, hot chocolate, and many more fun and cheery things. However, I also can’t help to think about the necessity of heat during the very cold days and nights especially. The State of Illinois, like some other states, has a weatherization assistance program aimed to help people who need it the most. Weatherization simply means to insulate or protect a home or building from moderate to more extreme weather conditions such as sunlight, rain, wind, snow, etc. We in the northeastern region of the state can attest to extreme cold! Another very appealing aspect of weatherization is the opportunity to reduce energy consumption, which will decrease costs. The weatherization of homes for families can result in savings of 32 percent on heating bills, according to the Department of Energy. Recently the federal government released $5 billion nationally toward weatherization assistance programs as part of the American Recovery Reinvestment Act stimulus funding. The State of Illinois received $242.5 million of ARRA funding which is anticipated to help weatherize approximately 27,000 homes. The funding will be distributed throughout the region to 35 local agencies. This is a success! Want to learn more about weatherization and its benefits? Click here.  permalink
   
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