Caulk the Rock Returns!

Buildings really bug Deborah Reilly.

"They account for 40 percent of our energy use," says Reilly, the coordinator of Caulk the Rock, WISEnergy’s third annual Energy Fair. "Forty percent."

On Vashon, with its stock of handyman specials, the 40 percent energy use—or should we say waste?—figure is even higher. It doesn’t have to be that way, says Reilly.

For the last four years, Reilly and WISEnergy have been urging Vashon’s homeowners, renters and landlords to weatherize, and with some success. Residential energy use on the Island is down about seven percent. The annual Caulk the Rock energy fair is the tent revival meeting for this ongoing weatherization effort.

"We wanted to find a way to connect Islanders who have questions with experts who have answers," explains Reilly, who is a LEEDS-certified architect. "An Energy Fair seemed like a good way to do that. It’s one-stop shopping for information and inspiration on how to save energy and money and, of course, the earth."

This year’s Fair takes place on Saturday, June 30, from 10am to 3pm. It will feature more vendors, a new and bigger location (the Island Lumber parking lot), and a first-time partnership with the Vashon Solar Home Tour folks. Caulk the Rock is the headquarters for this year’s fourth annual, 10-stop tour of Island solar homes.

More than 40 area vendors will be on hand to demo their green products and expertise, including Vashon-grown businesses such as Artisan Electric, Healthier Air and Heating, Watershed, LLC, Potential Energy, No Tile left Behind and the Vashon Electric Vehicles Association. Fairgoers can learn all about energy audits; weatherization retrofits and financing; solar, geothermal and heat pump installations; drip irrigation; electric cars; bees; and a dizzying array of green building methods and materials (roofs, windows, decks, tiles, countertops, you name it). For a complete list of vendors, visit www.wisenergyvashon.com.

If you’re not sure how you can afford to insulate the attic, talk to the folks at the Puget Sound Community Credit Union booth about their low-interest loans. If you’re tired of paying through the nose for propane heat, chat up the solar, geothermal or heat pump experts at the Fair. If you’re dreaming of a green remodel, well, let’s just say there’s be lots of exhibitors to visit. And when you grow tired of the Fair (as if), you can pick up a map at the Artisan Electric booth and head off on the Solar Home Tour. (Same day, 10am-5pm).

"There really is something for everybody," says Reilly, including grilled food, live music, workshops and raffles.

Caulk the Rock is the premier annual event for WISEnergy, the Vashon nonprofit bent on making Vashon homes, and eventually its businesses, energy efficient in preparation for an Island-wide shift from the fossil fuel present to a clean, alternative energy future.

WISEnergy broke onto the Island scene four years ago with the small wooden resource center on Vashon Highway just north of the Farmer’s Market. The group sold its "energy hut" last year. With the proceeds, WISEnergy plans to take its weatherization message on the road, evangelizing local church, civic and neighborhood groups, and partnering with larger off-island organizations that share its passion for an energy efficient housing stock.

"People get all jazzed about putting solar panels on their roof or buying an electric car—and that’s all great," says Deborah Reilly. "But when it comes to saving energy and reducing greenhouse gases, you can make a much bigger impact by just weatherizing your house."

On Vashon, Reilly and WISEnergy are preaching to a receptive crowd. Vashonites want to conserve energy. They just aren’t always sure where and how to begin. With events like Caulk the Rock, WISEnergy hopes to turn all those good intentions into action, weatherizing the way to a snug, clean, energy efficient future—and making Deborah Reilly like buildings again.

Mary Bruno is a founding board member of WISEnergy.