A stimulus-funded program with the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences is helping low-income Central Georgia residents make energy improvements to their homes, a service that not only helps the environment, but also helps low-income residents save money on energy bills permanently.

Jill Vaughan, Cooperative Extension Weatherization Program coordinator, said the program is meant to not only improve the lives of low-income residents, but also save energy and money while educating the public on the importance of energy conservation.

“The intent is it to help the environment and dwellings of low income residents,” said Vaughan. “It’s basically to help them afford low energy costs and help them conserve energy.”

The Weatherization Assistance Program, which is funded through the Governor’s Office of Energy Resources, allows low-income families to apply for assistance in weatherizing their homes if their family income is 200 percent of the poverty level or less.

Vaughan said the Extension Office’s main goal is to assist community action agencies, which perform the weatherization on homes, by checking the work to ensure that the weatherization has been done accurately and educating those that qualify for weatherization about the energy improvements to their homes.

A checklist of improvements not exceeding $5,000 can be made to each home that qualifies.

Vaughan said community action agencies, such as the Overview Community Action Agency in Baldwin County and the Middle Georgia Community Action Agency in Houston County, make an array of improvements to the homes of low income residents in need of assistance with energy conservation.

The community action agencies check for air leaks in homes, add insulation where needed, install a programmable thermostat if necessary, replace light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs, assess refrigerators for energy efficiency and install carbon monoxide detectors if gas is used in the home.

“These applicants get in touch with the agencies to apply for weatherization for their homes and then they’re put onto a list according to eligibility,” she said. “It is a process so it takes a while. The agency goes out and weatherizes their homes and then we’re the checkers.”

Vaughan said the importance of the service will become apparent when a UGA study that compares the original power bills of low-income residents to the power bills of low-income residents after weatherization is completed.

“Hopefully it will show that it does make a difference,” she said of the study, adding that the biggest area that improving energy efficiency can impact is saving residents money.

Vaughan said the program also provides for educational programs throughout the 18-county area on environmental stewardship and energy conservation.

Vaughan works with residents in middle Georgia including Spalding, Butts, Jasper, Putnam, Pike, Lamar, Monroe, Jones, Hancock, Upson, Crawford, Bibb, Peach, Houston, Twiggs, Wilkinson, Washington and Johnson counties.

Vaughan’s own interest in environmental stewardship came about from an interest in homes as an interior design student at the University of Georgia.

“I graduated from UGA with a degree in interior design,” said Vaughan. “I was always interested in homes and then I took the LEED certification exam and I became LEED certified and I became interested in the environment and conservation.”

Helping residents become educated on energy efficiency and the environment offers multiple benefits to those that participate in the program, she said.

“It is really important because, one, a lot of people are unaware of what they can do to preserve energy, but, two, because it gives them the opportunity to have someone come in and make improvements to their home,” she said.

For more information on the Weatherization Assistance Program, please visit http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wip/wap.html or contact the Jill Vaughan at the Baldwin County Extension Office at 478-445-6310.

Vaughan can also be contacted in regards to environmental stewardship and energy conservation educational programs.