News About HEET
BREAKING NEWS WITH NSTAR REBATES:
NSTAR is working hard to lower energy use. It’s literally giving away airsealing and other services. There is a long set of programs available as of May 15, 2010. See the NSTAR rebates section on our website for details.
Recent Events
Harvard University had its first barn-raising run by Harvard's Office of Sustainability. 53 students turned out for it at the Phillips Brooks House. They will save annually over $3000 in energy costs, 1000 therms and 7000 kWh. See the video. The event is also described at http://green.harvard.edu/node/899.
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The Boston Bruins hockey team made a video out of a HEET event. Andrew Ference, a Boston Bruins player, was at our February 28 event and announced his donation of $5000 to NEGEF, one of our generous funders.
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HEET Provides an Introduction to Green Jobs: HEET barn-raisings offer hands-on experience which can be a step toward green jobs, especially when combined with more formal training.
HEET Now Incorporated: On March 17, HEET legally incorporated! Our Board of Directors consists of Audrey Schulman, Sue Butler, Steve Morr-Wineman, Matthew Schreiner, Jason Taylor, Rob Riman and Lilah Glick.
Spreading HEET: New barn-raising teams are starting in about two dozen towns around Boston and across the country. See our Other Organizations section for details.
Recent Barnraisings
On February 28, 2010 we took on two houses in East Cambridge, a single-family attached, and a two-family. Over sixty volunteers participated, including Andrew Ference of the Boston Bruins, a climate activist.
On January 10, 2010 we did two projects, the Transition House Women's Shelter and a leaky house in Mid-Cambridge. We helped cover expenses for both. We had over 70 volunteers, and reduced air infiltration by over 1000 CFM (@ 50 Pascals) at each site.
On December 6, 2009 we took on two houses, in North Cambridge and Riverside, partly to see if we could manage two full barn-raisings across town from each other. Despite overnight snow, we had about 70 volunteers between the two.
On November 6, 2009 we went to the Eitz Chayim synagogue. It's three different buildings tied together, so a large space. Including a good turn-out from the congregations itself, we had about 55 volunteers.
On October 24, 2009 we had four projects going. The Pleasant St. Women's Center, the Wendell St. co-op (big victorian house), a nearby house CFL swap, and neighborhood CFL swap in Area 4. All together we installed 350 CFLs, good for reducing CO2 by up to 80 tons per year, going forward.
Press and Recognition
Press:
See a video by Joanna Hurley of an early HEET barn-raising
Grants and Awards:
Two grants from the Massachusetts Service Alliance
A grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund
A grant from the Chorus Foundation
A Genzyme grant
GoGreen Award: In May 2009, HEET was given the GoGreen award by the City of Cambridge as the City's outstanding community organization working toward sustainability. Check out the photos!
"Climate Superstar" Award from MCAN
MCAN Wolfe and Rita Grant to do low income work
