I’m the first to admit that I don’t have a great mind for business. For years, I’ve been filling my neighbors’ oil tanks, whether they can afford it or not, through my fuel company. On Saturday, Feb. 4, it all caught up with me, when the New York Times exposed my unconventional business practices in a front page story about Robert and Wilma Hartford. My world changed that day and my thinking has, too.
The Hartfords are a retired couple. Robert is a veteran and Wilma is disabled. They both worked hard their entire lives and now as they enter their “golden years,” they are struggling to make ends meet. Regardless of how frugal you may be, a fixed monthly income of $1,350 goes fast these days.
As the price of oil rose, their monthly heating costs climbed to $500 (almost 40 percent of their income). Once they could no longer afford to buy fuel, things turned desperate. Even though it meant giving up his last shred of liberty, Robert offered me the title to his 16-year-old Lincoln Town Car in exchange for oil.
After the story in the Times broke, we received donations of close to $200,000 — which have all been deposited into a not-for-profit fund to help the Hartfords and others like them. My faith in the kindness of strangers and in America has been restored. I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am to all those who offered their help. The most interesting offer came from some folks who told me they could reduce the need to fill the Hartfords’ oil tank year after year.
DeWitt Kimball from Complete Home Evaluation Services volunteered a home energy audit to assess the building’s current problems and to determine what efficiency improvements might make sense. This was an eye-opener for me. He didn’t just look at the heating system, he measured the total air-leakage in the building and studied the condition of the existing insulation throughout the building and then he built an energy model — which allowed him to compare the relative values of different improvements.
I thought we could help the Hartfords by upgrading their heating system.
DeWitt’s energy model showed that a boiler replacement would save them about 10 percent.
Josh Wojcik of Upright Frameworks used the energy audit to work up some estimates for projects that would knock the total need for heat down by almost 50 percent. The retail cost of buttoning up the attic and the basement came out to $6,800, which is just about the same cost as that heating system I was thinking about installing.
Josh’s team came in with a clear plan and they worked fast. Within two days, DeWitt was back out there doing a test-out to see whether the project had the desired effect. The work exceeded his expectations.
I never knew what was possible through this type of work. But I was there for the initial audit and for the follow-up inspection and I can tell you that the home is dramatically different. The drafts are all but gone and the house holds its heat so well that the heating system rarely kicks on.
They reduced the air-leakage by more than 60 percent (still allowing for adequate ventilation), and added high-performance insulation throughout. I have a new perspective now. The high cost of heating fuel is strangling Maine’s economy and energy efficiency is the solution. I can’t fill all the oil tanks for free and if my customers can’t afford to buy fuel, my business doesn’t work.
The Hartfords story has a happy ending, but their situation was not unique. Many of Maine’s households struggle to afford heating fuel, but almost all our homes need to be buttoned up. Wasted heat in our homes drains over $450 million dollars from our economy every year.
The Hartfords have personally invited the governor and the Legislature to come to their home to learn about the power of energy efficiency and to start having a serious discussion about what must be done for the rest of the state. Here are the details: 11a.m. Saturday, March 24 at 38 West Main Street, Peru, Maine.
The governor declined, but I’m hopeful that some real leadership will emerge from the Legislature. If you want to meet The Hartfords and learn about energy efficiency, I urge you to take a ride over. The Hartfords are good people and their home is, well, warm.
Ike Libby owns Hometown Energy LLC in Dixfield.
Out of curiosity is Judge Woodcock a Republican?
He was appointed by President G.W. Bush
And vetted by the Judicial Committe which was chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont. The full Senate voted to confirm Judge Woodcock. The Senate at that time was held by a Democrat Majority.
Yes.
The gov. declined. He is really a man of the people.
I wonder if Governor Baldacci was able to meet with every private citizen that requested an audience with him in their own home?
What do Baldacci have to do with this article? Your guy is not doing so well, accept it and talk to him about it, and why wouldn’t a Governor want to hear of a cheap solution to save the states population millions of dollars. Should the Hartfords have scheduled the invite before our leader in chief went to Jamaica? And since he is off on vacation, why couldn’t he send a office representative to attend?
I’m thinking that the Governor (and most adults) are aware of the benefits of weatherization projects and a new energy-efficient boiler on a typical home; it’s not ground-breaking information. Our boiler is 35 years old and I don’t think we’d qualify for any taxpayer-funded programs to get us a “free” audit or boiler so me and my 2 boys, (10 and 8) got to work and are burning about 3-4 cords of wood each year. It saves us about $600 per year and we use minimal foreign oil to boot. I struggle to put money into my 401K and can only hope the private sector hangs on enough so I’m not left relying on a government check when I get old. Mr. Libby’s article is nice, but clearly is written around one phrase: “The governor declined”. My assessment of this article is it’s more political than informational and as we continue allowing ourselves to be divided and defined by the extreme viewpoints of Democrats or Republicans, we’ll continue getting the government we deserve.
Clearly you’re a little defensive about the governor. The bulk of the article was about peop;e rallying to help, and about saving energy… the line about the governor was little more than a postscript. And they didn’t install a new boiler… because tightening things up saved 50%… the new boiler would have saved only 10%. And rather than being ignorant and not checking your facts maybe you should call DeWitt yourself…
You could’ve Googled it in less than 3 seconds, as I did.
Sheesh:
http://www.efficiencymaine.com/pace
I find the comment about LePage not coming to the home of these people and how that is some sort of horrible thing to be a foolish comment. I think it is pretty much understood by everyone that the Governor, be it Baldacci, LePage or the next Governor cannot attend every event they are invited to or meet with everyone who requests time from him.
Penguin is running around crying about cuts to heating assistance, while demanding cuts to energy efficiency programs. He couldn’t man up enough to accept an invitation from people who are actually doing something or take 5 minutes learn when energy efficiency even means, and you’re going to try to defend him? Give me a break.
Like mjkrem posted, the concept of weatherization is not new to anyone, including you or me. So while it is very nice that these people were able to get their home weatherized there really is not much ground breaking news here as thousands of people in Maine make weatherization improvements every year. Showing outrage and disappointment that the Governor didnt accept an invitation to come see how these common and relatively standard practices were adapted in these peoples home seems foolish to me.
Where is the outrage. I believe the column just mentioned that the Governor was invited and he declined. Plain and simple.
I do find it odd that on the one hand Governor LePage has been saying that we need to become a more energy efficient state and cut our oil consumption. Then on the other hand he wants to cut that Energy Efficiency group, whose purpose is to help people do the very thing he wants done.
Read the comments. The Governor isnt a man of the people, the Governor couldnt man up and take five minutes to go to the home of these people.
I see it this way. We are incredibly dependant on oil to heat our homes and thus we should do eveything possible to weatherize our homes for effeciency. But what do we do when our homes are as winterized as possible and the price of oil still is going up? We can weatherize only to a certain point and then what?
Some funding should be used to make homes more winter proof and to reduce wasted heat. But I believe the greater focus should be on getting Mainers off of expensive oil heat and into much less costly forms of heat. Will the State continue to offer funds for new windows, plastic sheeting and weather stripping or will they use funds to provide something like a natural gas pipeline? I think that is the Governors thinking.
I think that was the jist of the article. Weatherization. There has been a lot of new equipment and services that most people never knew about. I for one would have loved to had one of these surveys done on the house I used to own. It had so many problems that I really didn’t know where to start. It used to take 1100 gallons of oil to heat it per winter.
That was serious bucks you had to spend on oil. I think also one of the concerns is that even if you have one of these surveys done it doesnt address how a homeowner goes about paying for the upgrades. I know that there are some tax write offs and grants for such things but Im not sure if that would begin to cover all the costs.
Did you get your house buttoned up? My grandparents all live in homes that are like that, older homes that take up a lot of oil.
I did what I could and sold it. The point being is that if I had had a one of these energy surveys done, I could have maybe directed my efforts toward the worst heat lose soures first.
This article did start off as about home heating but turned political at the end.
I think the only reason Governor LePage was mentioned at all was because the Gov. has preached that he would like to make us more energy efficient as a state. I can understand him not going. He, after all is the Gov. and has many responsibilities that go along with the job. The article didn’t castigate him, it just mentioned that he was invited and declined.
people seem not to adhere to posting guideline number two….what animal do you look like, i know which one you act like..
Those are Federals Cuts ordered by budget Obama presented to Congress. Lets see if Obama can make the trip.
Very nice article
Congratulations on the wonderful things you’ve done. Your brother, Jim,is a good friend of mine and he is so proud of you. The governor doesn’t care about people and that has become so obvious from his policy proposals. Keep up the good work. You are a blessing to those in need.
That savings is typical for an energy audit driven weatherization project. The work pays for itself in around 5 years, and then keeps paying, especially as oil prices rise further. Even if they do replace the boiler, they can now spend less for the new one because it won’t need to be as big.
I’m a BPI Certified Energy Auditor, and I work for Osher Environment Systems. We serve Bangor and Downeast. Our audits help people qualify for Efficiency Maine’s PACE Loan Program, which pays for the weatherization and then uses part of the savings to pay the loan. Closing costs are covered by the program and qualifying homeowners never have to deal with a cash flow problem in order to afford it. It just reduces your heating bills and makes your house more comfortable.
Well done, Ike.
http://bit.ly/aQMjbV
Thank you Mr. Libby: I live in an old summer cottage on the coast and you have convinced me that an energy audit is the right thing to do.
You are one of the good guys and your business practices are just what this country needs more of. Thank you!
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/03/2012-chevy-volt-named-european-car-of-the-year/1 – Chevy Volt production stopped for 5 weeks due to slow sales, but was named European Car of the Year on March 5, 2012.
The price of oil went up to $147 / barrel in July of 2008 when the oil companies wanted to be able to drill in ANWAR and off the California and Florida Coasts.
Now they want to build the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Isn’t it about time you woke up, my fellow chumpslies, er, Americans?
Thank You, Mr. Libby for letting us all know how wonderful of a person you are and putting your good deeds on public display for us all to admire. In addition, I would like to thank you for also turning your writings into an op-ed piece against the Governor who wouldnt come and look at the project you did in following the guidelines and weathrization techniques that thousands of other contractors and Maine homeowners have been doing for the past several years.
Actually, getting contractors and homeowners to follow the guidelines and weatherization techniques is an ongoing challenge for energy auditors. People think they know what they’re doing, and often times they don’t. Contractors follow standard trade practice because “that’s they way we’ve always done it” rather than because it makes sense. Contractors hate doing paperwork, which means they don’t calculate what the cost/benefit savings and simple pay back period for various improvements. (New windows may look nice, but almost never pay for themselves.) Most people, contractors included, don’t know the building science behind the things I do as an energy auditor, and don’t have the tools to measure building air flow or easily spot air infiltration sites. They don’t have the experience of looking at building after building and knowing where the real weak points are.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to have a check-up with a doctor, even when you’re well, rather than waiting until you’re really sick and relying on folk remedies. I hope that people see that this is the point of the article: An energy audit can save you money and show you things that as a layman, you won’t figure out on your own.
I did some fairly simple and not very expensive extra energy-saving work when I built my own 2500sq ft house two years ago in central Maine. My heating bill last year was $400 worth of wood pellets and I figure $200 worth of electricity to run the stove. This year I’ve spent about $250 in pellets so far. Its criminal the way houses continue to be built to such low energy standards.
Does political smugness keep you warm Mr. Libby?