Environmental Alliancefor Senior Involvement

---

Energy Conservation Programs

Energy conservation programs coordinated by the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI) focus on many community concerns, ranging from wasted fuels to air pollution from power plants   and energy efficient low-income housing. EASI senior volunteers provide hands-on assistance to help build such housing, often working with the Habitat for Humanity, and carry out weatherization projects to retrofit exisiting housing.

All EASI programs are in co-operation with host organization such as Retired Senior Volunteer Programs, senior centers, religious organizations, local governments, and others.
 Local needs dictate the type of projects adopted. In North Carolina, senior volunteers have worked with Americorp members to prepare homes for hurricanes. In San Angelo, TX., senior volunteers have established a “Christmas in April” project to renovate and weatherize housing for senior and the handicapped. Volunteers also help landscape homes and commercial properties to reduce energy costs.  Others educate youth and adult groups about conserving energy, using such simple suggestions as turning off lights and setting thermostates at lower temperatures. They also do a variety of environmental education presentations in classrooms and before civic organizations.
 

Many organizations support EASI’s energy conservation activities.  These include at the national level, the US Department of Energy, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the US Department of Agriculture and its local organizations.  Local public utility and environmental officials, as well as businesses, support many conservation programs at the community level. Accomplishments of the energy conservation program include the number of dwellings built or retrofitted, energy savings documented by local officials, energy conserving products sold or provided to householders such as weather stripping, and energy saving documented by public facilities such as schools and hospitals.