This Old Green House
By
Suzie Boss
Stanford Social Innovation Review
September 17, 2010
Clean Energy Works Portland gets consumers—and the workforce—energized about weatherization.
Roberta Hunte is a career counselor in Portland, Ore., who specializes in helping women find their way into the building trades. After work, she heads home to a “horribly drafty” house built in 1924. "It’s cold in the winter, and there are moldy places," she says. Through her job at Oregon Tradeswomen, Hunte routinely meets people qualified to fix ventilation and install insulation. But even though she knows she could cut her energy bill by weatherizing her house, she has hesitated to invest. "Truthfully," she admits, "when I think about home improvements, I think about paint colors."
