Volunteers needed to help build affordable window inserts

Volunteers build low-cost insulating window inserts as part of the WindowDressers program to help Vermonters of all income levels save energy.

Volunteers build low-cost insulating window inserts as part of the WindowDressers program to help Vermonters of all income levels save energy.

Volunteers build low-cost insulating window inserts as part of the WindowDressers program to help Vermonters of all income levels save energy.

This fall, Lamoille County will join 23 existing Vermont communities that host yearly WindowDressers events to build low-cost insulating inserts.

Stowe Electric Department and the energy committees in both Hyde Park and Stowe are partnering with Lamoille County Planning Commission on the event from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, and they’re looking for volunteers.

The window building will take place at the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department’s St. Theresa Parish Hall, 92 W. Main St., Hyde Park.

Community volunteers will construct frames, which are then double wrapped with plastic and affixed with a gasket for easy installation.

Stowe Electric is one of 20 utilities nationwide that has been paired with a Clean Energy Innovation fellow from the U.S. Department of Energy, Wendy Crosier of Maine, who is helping to organize the event with the hope it will become an annual event.

WindowDressers, a Maine non-profit that started in Rockland in 2010, addresses economic solutions to weatherization and energy equity.

Its mission is to bring community volunteers of all economic and social situations together to improve the warmth and comfort of interior spaces, lower heating costs and reduce carbon dioxide pollution. The inserts are reusable and function as custom, interior-mounted storm windows.

Constructed of pine, the frames are wrapped on each side with polyolefin film, stretched tight, to create an airspace of increased R value to improve insulation on drafty windows. The inserts are finished with compressed foam gaskets, which hold them in place and block cold air, thereby saving on energy costs. They can be left in year-round to reduce air conditioning costs or easily stored under a bed or the back of a closet until the next winter season.

Inserts are free for those who cannot afford to pay and low cost for middle- and high-income households. WindowDressers keeps the price of its inserts low — 50-75 percent cheaper than commercial products — through its non-profit model of cooperative insert-building. This means that customers contribute their own time to build the frames. Rebates are also available through Efficiency Vermont.

Volunteers are needed for the event. Go to windowdressers.org for more information or to sign up. For questions about volunteering for the build, contact Crosier at [email protected].

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