Washington State University has released the Weatherization Workforce Roadmap for Washington state. The report describes the key workforce challenges facing Washington’s low-income weatherization program agency employers and subcontractors. The roadmap also offers potential solutions and actions that can enhance the availability, preparation and ongoing development of a skilled weatherization workforce in Washington state. Recent research shows that demand for energy efficiency-related employment, including weatherization, has greatly exceeded the availability of…
Tag Archives: Weatherization
It’s always nice to get recognition for our work, especially when it shares our ideas with a broader audience. The Energy Division Low-Income Weatherization Program’s Weatherization Plus Health efforts got a nice dose of coverage this month in a cover article in the March 2019 Healthy Indoors Magazine. The article profiled the innovative partnership between our Pierce County Human Services local weatherization program and the Clean Air for Kids Asthma…
It’s been a busy start to 2019 for Commerce’s Weatherization Plus Health program. We’ve participated in several regional and national forums and shared the structure and results of our Plus Health work providing lasting home and client health improvements. Dec. 17, Vince Schueler, our WSU Energy Program Evaluation partner, shared results of our evaluation with a Working Group of Vermont, Connecticut, and New York weatherization programs working on development of…
In late January, Commerce’s Weatherization Plus Health Program, and partners Washington State University Energy Program, Pierce County Human Services (Weatherization Program), and Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department released an analysis of the Weatherization Plus Health Partnership work done in Pierce County from 2016 – 2018. The partnership built on earlier collaborations between Pierce County Human Services and the Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department’s asthma outreach program. For the Plus Health partnership, the…
Commerce’s Weatherization Plus Health and the Washington State University (WSU) Energy Program are bringing on new research partners – Three3, Ellen Tohn and Associates and the National Center for Healthy Homes (NCHH). This team of national experts will help Commerce and the WSU Energy Program detail improved health outcomes to clients receiving Weatherization Plus Health services and estimate health benefit values. Over the next six months this team will develop:…
It’s not every day that Commerce gets to co-sponsor a national training conference, but we did this past week from Sept. 17 – 21. Bellevue, Washington was the site of the NASCSP (National Association for State Community Services Programs) annual training conference.
We are lucky to have a talented workforce of experienced building professionals running and managing our 24 local weatherization program around Washington state. One of these professionals is Charlie Rogers, property rehabilitation specialist with Homewise, at the City of Seattle Office of Housing. Charlie was recently profiled on the cover of “Accelerate America” magazine for his work on carbon dioxide heat pump water heaters, a new energy saving technology he’s…
Our Washington State Weatherization Assistance Program staff are getting together in Phoenix the week of May 21 with their western states co-workers to learn the latest in weatherization and building science at the 2018 Energy OutWest conference. One thing you might not have expected them to talk about, though, is poverty – how it moves through generations, how it limits people’s choices and how we can better serve families in…
Celebrating 40 Years of weatherization and a new initiative to combat indoor asthma triggers OLYMPIA, WA – Gov. Jay Inslee joins community action agencies, housing authorities and local governments across the state and nation in recognizing Oct. 30, 2016 as Weatherization Day in Washington. This year marked the 40th year nationally, and the 37th year locally, of the federal/state energy-saving service for low-income households around Washington. “The Weatherization Assistance Program…