Caroline Staudt was recently hired as an energy advocate by the town. Photo courtesy town of Brookline
Brookline has hired an energy advocate to provide residents with free guidance on how to make their homes as energy efficient as possible.
Funding for the position comes from a $126,000 grant from the Mass Save Community First Partnership. Mass Save, a statewide initiative that aims to lower energy usage and costs, selected 58 communities to participate in the partnership.
Caroline Staudt, Brookline’s new energy advocate, said her ambition is to empower homeowners, renters, landlords and business owners to make energy efficient choices through incentives, outreach and education.
“My position is designed to outreach to all residents in Brookline,” Staudt said, “especially among those who are traditionally underserved by energy efficiency programs.”
Staudt, who has a background in real estate, said she is passionate about energy efficiency. When people make their homes more energy efficient, she said, they make their homes not only more climate-friendly but more comfortable.
“I am here to demystify the program and to make the process easier for people, so that more homeowners feel empowered to take advantage [of the program],” Staudt said.
In order to best utilize her services, Staudt said there is one crucial first step: a free home energy assessment, in which a professional assesses a home to sniff out possible energy efficiency improvements. Staudt said her job is to help people understand what their home energy assessment recommends as well as give tips as to how to follow up.
One common way residents can increase the energy efficiency of their homes, Staudt said, is to air seal and better insulate them. Doing so reduces points of entry for pests and pollen as well as reduces energy usage, which can be “great on the wallet,” she said.
“There are a lot of Brookline residents who may have heard the words ‘Mass Save’ but not really know what that means,” Staudt said. “My hope for those residents is that I can really educate them about what the Mass Save programs are, how they can take advantage and really help them get started.”
State Rep. Tommy Vitolo, a former energy consultant whose district includes part of Brookline, said it can be difficult to navigate through all of the energy efficient choices one can make for their home.
“Having a navigator — a person who is familiar with Mass Save and the contractors and the technologies and the different rebates or subsidies — will clearly help Brookline residents make the best choice for their family about how to invest in their home, to reduce energy consumption,” Vitolo said.
Vitolo said there is “no one-size-fits-all” solution for Brookline homes, so each residence will have different areas of energy consumption to address. With Staudt in the mix, Vitolo said he is excited to see Brookliners receive help in making their homes more energy efficient.
“Fundamentally, every therm of natural gas, every kilowatt-hour of electricity that someone doesn’t consume not only saves them money, but it does result in cleaner air and cleaner water and a better future for our children,” Vitolo said.
Kathleen Scanlon, an architect certified in energy-efficient building design, is a co-founder of the Brookline chapter of Mothers Out Front and member of the town’s Zero Emissions Advisory Board (ZEAB), two groups that are collaborating to provide accessible information on energy efficiency for the community through the campaign Electrify Brookline.
“As a mother, it was really important for me to see my children’s future evolve into buildings that were more energy efficient and sustainable,” Scanlon said.
After moving from California to Brookline about 20 years ago, Scanlon said she didn’t see the same push for energy-efficient buildings on the east coast compared to the west. This pushed her to found Mothers Out Front and join ZEAB, as well as underscores her support for Staudt.
“[Staudt] is a wealth of information,” Scanlon said.
Paul Ham, a home improvement contractor and member of ZEAB’s Residential Working Group, called Staudt an “amazing resource.”
“Ethically speaking, moving towards electrification is probably the right thing to do,” Ham said. “We’re at a kind of a pivotal point, like an inflection point, where I think a lot of the kind of stuff we can do to our homes are affordable and effective.”
Staudt will hold monthly office hours to discuss energy efficiency with residents. The first were on March 18. She said she will also arrange one-on-one meetings with those who are interested.
“People want to take action, but they don’t know where to start, and sometimes not knowing where to start means that somebody just doesn’t take action,” Staudt said. “I hope that by being here and working with the town, I am able to get the word out that if you don’t know where to start — start with me.”
This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.