Sharon receives $5,000 energy grant from state

ShaROn » The Sharon Energy and Environment Commission has recently received a $5,000 Bright Idea Grant for an Energy Saving Project of the Town’s Choice. The grant comes through Connecticut’s Clean Energy Communities Program’s Energy Efficiency Track. The commission is in further discussion with the town about how to use the grant. The commission, started in 2009, has been helping the town to become more efficient in using energy. Back in 2011, it did a home assessment project in 240 homes in Sharon that led to the new grant, according to Kathleen Fuhr, the co-chair of the commission.

The project was to help people understand how they were using energy at home and what they could do to make it more efficient. During the project, Fuhr said, participants discovered leaks in windows and doors that might possibly waste energy. They helped locals switch to energysaving light bulbs provided free under another grant program and helped them receive $900 worth of energy saving alterations.

“We are just trying to help people to save money, because energy is very expensive in Connecticut,” Fuhr said.

She said a LED light bulb uses very little energy and it’s more efficient than a CSL light bulb. Not many people know that they can change their energy supplier by going to the websites and shopping around for a better and cheaper energy option.

To learn more about energy saving in Sharon, go to the town’s website and click “Energy Matters.”