by Jake Stump
Daily Mail Capitol Reporter

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly twice the usual number of West Virginia households will benefit this year from the government's weatherization program, which helps insulate, plug leaks and replace heating units in homes.
Last year, 1,389 West Virginia households received home repairs paid for by public weatherization funds.

The state is aiming much higher this year with a goal to weatherize at least 2,756 homes, thanks largely to $37.5 million provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus.

The funding should trickle into the state over the next two years, said Ed Harper, director of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, which oversees the low-income weatherization assistance program in West Virginia.

Harper said the office usually operates on an annual budget of $7 million, meaning the stimulus dollars provide a considerable "shot in the arm."

Half of the office's funding typically comes from the federal Department of Health and Human Services while the remaining comes from the Department of Energy.

Created in the 1960s, the weatherization program reduces energy costs for low-income families by improving the energy efficiency of their homes. This would include installing insulation, reducing air infiltration, performing heating and cooling tune-ups, and replacing heating units with safer, more energy-efficient models.

Not only will there be more money to spend on weatherization, but more West Virginians are now eligible for the program.

After passage of the stimulus, the eligibility guidelines were loosened from households with an income at 150 percent of the poverty level to 200 percent. For instance, a household of one must have an annual income no more than $21,660. A household of four's income must be less than $44,100.

Each home, however, can't get more than $7,500 in funding.

To apply for money, a household must contact one of 13 local community action agencies that are monitored by the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity.

"Our agencies bill us for what they do and we reimburse them," Harper said. "We have monitors out in the field to make sure the work is being done."

Harper called the weatherization program a "sophisticated process" involving high-tech gadgets and devices that measure carbon dioxide levels and detect hot and cold spots within a home.

Workers use vacuums and "colored smoke" in the home to see where leaks exist, he said. They then check the ductwork, furnaces and other heating units in the household.

"It's pretty technical stuff," Harper said. "They even have a set of thermo glasses. You put them on and can look at the walls to see where there are hot or cold spots that can be filled with insulation. They'll even literally take the entire roof off a mobile home and install insulation to make a weather-tight envelope."

Other types of weatherization assistance include installing new hot water heaters, repairing furnaces or replacing old refrigerators, Harper added.

"Our deal is to make a home safe and warm," he said.

Due to the flood of stimulus money, the local weatherization agencies have hired about 165 new employees and invested in equipment, said Lyn Bartges, weatherization program manager.

"They had to increase their staff and buy more tools and vehicles," she said.

Bartges said social programs tend to get a bad rap from critics of government handouts, but she said the weatherization project is a win-win for all.

"This is a green program and it's cutting back on emissions," she said. "What we're doing is making a house more energy efficient. If that person moves out, the next person comes in and still gets those benefits."

In a bad economy, many people who might have lost their jobs in the past year could now qualify for this kind of assistance, Bartges added.

Harper said the state could get even more federal funding beyond the $37.5 million. If states excel in performance, any weatherization funds not depleted nationwide will be distributed to those states, he said.

That's very possible, as West Virginia has the highest homeownership per capita, Harper said. Almost 60 percent of those homes, however, are modular homes.

For more information, contact the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity at 304-558-8860 or online at www.wvf.state.wv.us/oeo/.

The Capital Resource Agency covers Boone, Clay, Fayette, Kanawha and Putnam counties for the weatherization program. Contact that office by calling 304-720-5413.