This weekend, the Home Energy Efficiency Team held an energy efficiency "barn-raising" at the Cambridge Community Center.  Dozens of volunteers gathered to take on a variety of energy efficiency tasks, ranging from replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLs, to installing storm windows and rigid foam insulation.

Over the past month I've attended a series of leadership trainings with HEET (which is part of the reason this blog is so heavily focused on energy efficiency ideas), funded by a generous grant from MassSAVE.  Yesterday was my first crack at leading an efficiency team.  I served as the "right-hand man" on the caulking team, led by award-winning painter Jason Taylor.  Jason is a talented, skilled, and knowledgable (to say nothing of entertaining) contractor, so I confess I didn't do much more than fetch rags and move ladders around.  I got in my fair share of caulking, though, and at one point I found a gaping hole in the wall that was obscured by a big play structure.  Jason showed me and a fellow leader how to seal up the hole with plaster-of-Paris, so we were able to take care of what would otherwise have been a giant leak in the center's energy bills this winter.

Yesterday's barn-raising was a lot of fun, and I think we were able to save a lot of energy.  The Center will be warmer and more cost-effective this winter, meaning that we've put a small dent in global warming while helping a worthwhile community organization.  And to top it all off, I got my photo taken with Cambridge City Councillor, and Lightbulb First client, Henrietta Davis!

With energy efficiency, as with many other problems, it's often helpful to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty (very dirty, if you're caulking).  That helps get the creative juices flowing, and helps expose some of the practical, in-the-trenches problems that are often the inspiration for great ideas.  I've got another blog post on the way, for example, that was inspired by an effiency audit training I attended a couple of weeks ago.  So get out there and weatherize some buildings!