President Obama announced the proposed $6 billion Home Star (aka Cash for Caulkers) program Tuesday to help improve the energy efficiency of American homes and create jobs in the building trades where unemployment hovers around 25%.
Whether congress will approve the program is not certain, but it will take time to ramp up the delivery infrastructure with trained contractors says the Christian Science Monitor.
US Weatherizing is launching an air sealing technical training this month to address a critical component of building performance often overlooked by builders and insulation contractors.
“This is the entry level green job people are looking for” said Brian Brainerd, principal of US Weatherizing, a company that plans neighborhood scale weatherization projects. “Sealing air leaks in existing homes offers huge potential for employment and energy savings. This is a technical process that is beyond the do-it-yourself skill level, although entry level technicians can be trained quickly to meet demand as retrofit programs are implemented.”