The days are getting noticeably shorter and cooler. It is a beautiful season in New England, but we are being reminded to get ready for what is to come: heating season.
There are many quick and easy steps to make this coming heating season less expensive and more comfortable in spite of rising fuel costs. The Warwick Building and Energy Committee (WBEC) has implemented some and is planning more simple steps to reduce energy usage at the Town Hall and encouraged for other Town buildings. Take a look at some preliminary results:
| Town Hall | Library | Truck Garage | Equip. Garage | Fire Station* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| winter of: | |||||
| 2008/09 | 1667 | 740 | 626 | 1137 | 598 |
| 2007/08 | 2139 | 654 | 1068 | 1129 | 541 |
| 2006/07 | 2885 | 1027 | 1046 | 1567 | 540 |
| 2005/06 | 2795 | 735 | 1217 | 1598 | 534 |
*includes kerosene
The Town Hall and Highway dept. have done the most weatherization in these years and have the best reductions in oil usage (and cost reduction) The fire dept has done none and is using more fuel.
Most of the early Town Hall work was in sealing air leaks; time consuming but very low cost. The Town Hall has now been insulated and we hope for even greater savings to the Town.
We will also be doing more low cost maintenance and invite you to come see what we have done and help with some of these further measures: Make and install more interior "winserts" for the front offices, repair cement around the basement bulkhead and window wells, repair/paint kitchen entry door, caulk baseboards in front offices, finish sealing air leaks and sealing heating ducts in basement, change the batteries in the programmable thermostats...and more.
We will be holding a Town Hall workday on Sat, Oct 24 from 9 AM - 3 PM. This will include a POT LUCK LUNCH. If you want to help by bringing some food, PLEASE DO!