Saturday, February 16, 2013
Energy efficient home renovations to be highlighted at Hyattsville city hall.
Local residents interested in making their homes more energy efficient will have the opportunity to check out their options in person at a Community Energy Fair in Hyattsville later this month. The event, set for Wednesday, Feb. 27 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the first floor multi purpose room at the Hyattsville Municipal Building on 4310 Gallatin Street, will connect residents and property owners with neighbors currently participating in the Small Town Energy Program (STEP) and contractors who can provide home energy efficient renovations. Funded by a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, STEP helps homeowners take advantage of existing tax rebates and other government or retail discounts to lessen the financial burden of …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Energy coaches could help retrofit your home to be more earth friendly under expanded program.
Looking to make your home greener without spending too much green? A new program set to expand into Hyattsville could help show you how. Earlier this week, the Hyattsville City Council unanimously approved a proposal to expand University Park's Small Town Energy Program to Hyattsville. Funded by a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the program is designed to help homeowners take advantage of existing tax rebates and other government or retail discounts to lessen the financial burden of retrofitting a home to be more energy efficient. The STEP-UP program is unique in that it provides a local "energy coach" who helps guide homeowners through the process of identifying financing options for energy efficient upgrades. It's …
Thursday, August 4, 2011
STEP UP got a boost Thursday when Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown visited the home of University Park residents who completed an energy audit.
It was no ordinary morning in University Park Thursday, when news vans and several cars parked alongside the 4000 block of College Heights Drive, in order to set up for a news conference on the lawn outside a home. Julie Ainsworth and Tom Wachs, of 4004 College Heights Drive, were the hosts to Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-Dist. 4), representatives from the Maryland Energy Administration and members of the press who wanted to take a peek into their home and see the process around the energy audit they recently received through the town's STEP-UP Program. James Otterbacher, of Delaware-based Energy Services Group, explained how the company did their audit of the home, and even took Brown, Edwards and the press into …
Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said an additional $850,000 is now available for the state's energy rebate program.
More Maryland homeowners will be able to participate in the state's Home Performance Rebate Program, after Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown announced that the Maryland Energy Administration has allotted an additional $850,000 in funding for the energy-efficiency program. Brown's announcement came Thursday morning from the lawn outside the home of Julie Ainsworth and her husband, Tom Wachs, of University Park, who recently had their home audited for energy upgrades through the town's STEP-UP Program. University Park created the STEP-UP Program, a town-wide energy efficiency initiative, after receiving a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy last summer. Through the program, town residents can get energy upgrades for their homes, like …
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Brown is set to announce additional funding for the Maryland Home Performance Rebate Program from the home of University Park residents Julie Ainsworth and Tom Wachs Thursday morning.
Updated, 8:30 p.m.: Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown will be visiting a University Park home Thursday morning to make an announcement regarding a state energy program. Julie Ainsworth and Tom Wachs, of 4004 College Heights Drive, will host Brown, Mayor John Tabori and other local officials for an announcement regarding additional funding for the Maryland Home Performance Rebate Program, which provides homeowners with a 35 percent rebate for any energy-efficient upgrades their make to their home. The arrival of Brown to their home Thursday morning means a lot of preparation for Ainsworth and Wachs. Ainsworth said they were randomly asked to host Brown's announcement as they are about to upgrade the insulation in their home. Although they weren't …
Friday, June 17, 2011
University Park resident Nick Leonardi joins the STEP UP team this summer.
University of Maryland Senior Nick Leonardi is looking forward to his summer internship with University Park's STEP UP — an energy efficiency program funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant. Leonardi, 21, has lived in University Park his whole life, attending University Park Elementary School, Friends Community School and Dematha High School, but this summer he'll take on the role of reaching out to community members about the program. Although he's studying English and philosophy at UMd., he has an interest in making his town greener. "I'm glad I get to be a part of it," Leonardi said. "I heard about the program a while ago, but didn't know how I could get involved." He doesn't know if he'll end up pursuing a career in the …
Thursday, June 16, 2011
This 25-year-old PhD student at the University of Maryland will being his talents to the team.
Bikash Acharya may not be from the U.S., but he hopes his talents will help University Park use their $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in a way so it works not only for residents but for future towns that mimic their model. Acharya, 25, of Nepal, is here studying towards his PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland. "My advisor told me about the internship," he said. "He's into energy efficiency and got me into it." Acharya hopes to take what he learns from this summer, abroad, so that others can understand how to use energy resources in a way that it might have less of an impact on the planet. He's impressed by the town's efforts to decrease its energy use by 20 percent. Acharya is studying the …
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A resident of University Park, Caroline Ulwick, hopes to get STEP UPs message out to the world.
University Park resident Caroline Ulwick is excited to start working in a community in which she knows the neighbors and lives in with her family. Ulwick, 19, is an environmental studies major at Bates College in Lewiston, ME and is also minoring in chemistry. She hopes her knowledge can help get the word out about STEP UP not only in her community with the regional media. "I'm very proud that our community got the grant," Ulwick said. "It just shows the caliber of people who live here." She went to Friends Community School and then went to Sidwell Friends School in D.C. for high school. "Environmental efficiency is appealing to people, because it helps cut costs," she said. "We need to grab hold of a better means to use energy and lessen …
Friday, June 10, 2011
The students will be working with the town's energy efficiency program.
Three area students were hired to help University Park's STEP UP program this summer. University Park residents Caroline Ulwick and Nick Leonardi and Bikash Acharya, of Nepal and a PhD student at UMd. will be working out of an office in the University Park Church of the Brethren. Patch met them Friday and will publish short q&a stories about each in the coming week. Also look for a new STEP UP blog starting next week — Ulwick will update you on the program, highlight new government rebates, and more weekly.
