On a snowy Monday morning, Por Dia Preschool Owner and Director Amy Long had an announcement for the children.

“There’s going to be a lot of people working around you today, so you have to be on your best behavior. OK?” She said.

Workers from the Four Corners Office For Resource Efficiency and the Southwest Conservation Corps converged on the aging building south of Cortez Jan. 16. Armed with weather stripping, power tools, insulation and compact fluorescent light bulbs, the non-profit workers were on a mission to increase the energy efficiency of the school.

The local office of energy efficiency, also known as 4Core, typically provides weatherization assistance for low income houses, not commercial buildings, said Gregg Dubit, 4Core executive director. But the organization is required to do a certain amount of direct service work each year.

Further, Dubit said the Americorps-sponsored Southwest Conservation Corps needed an opportunity for their apprentices to get some hands-on learning in building science and weatherization.

“So there we had the perfect fit between Por Dia preschool wanting to be more efficient and needing to fulfil a service obligation too for Americorps,” Dubit said.

4Core and SCC workers teamed up to perform an energy audit and weatherization of the preschool. They also provided an educational program for the children and their parents.

“It was great,” Long said. “The kids really enjoyed seeing the infrared camera.”

Long hopes the effort will lower utility bills at the school.

Students got to take home energy efficiency kits donated by Empire Electric Association.

Long said she found out about the program through the internet and applied. She said she is grateful to all the organizations that made it happen.

“I was really excited about the project,” she said. “I felt that it was a great opportunity for our school.”

Southwest Conservation Corps is a non-profit service organization founded in 1998 built on the model of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. With an office based in Durango, local SCC workers participate in various conservation and restoration programs.

4Core typically provides air sealing, insulation, appliance upgrades for homes in five counties of Southwest Colorado as part of its weatherization program, Dubit said.

“Improving home performance is not that expensive,” he said. “When you get holes with leakage, you get air flow. When you’re paying money to heat air and then it’s flowing directly out of the house, you’re basically wasting money and it’s like money flying out those holes.”

4Core workers also check homes for safety hazards, such as carbon monoxide or gas leaks.

Since 2009, 4Core has weatherized 158 homes in Montezuma County and 12 homes in Dolores County, Dubit said.

The organization is a pass-through for grants from the state governor’s energy office and federal Department of Energy energy assistance program. Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds also fund the organization, and are threatening to run out in March, Dubit said.

“To continue to provide these services at this level will be extremely difficult,” he said.

But not everyone is happy with the program. Local resident and county commissioner candidate Bud Garner said the program utilizes public funds to weatherize private residences, then teaches residents how to receive an energy efficiency tax break.

“It’s just a way of using taxpayer’s money to leverage taxpayer’s money,” he said. “It’s just an obscene use of taxpayer’s money.”

Garner said he believes residents are welcome to make their homes more energy efficient — something he practices himself — but it should not be done with public funds.

Residents who qualify can apply for residential weatherization through the organization’s website, www.fourcore.org.

Reach Reid Wright at reidw@cortezjournal.com