2024 LEAP Projects

Here’s a sample of LEAP’s 2024 activities: 

  • On Saturday, April 13 the 16th LEAP Energy Fair was held at the Crossett Brook Middle School gym and attracted 65 exhibitors and 625 visitors. This fair is the largest such gathering in Vermont. Attendees at this free event toured displays and spoke with experts about solar power, heat pumps, weatherization, green building, electric vehicles, pellet stoves, biomass, and many other topics. They also used the free electronics recycling. (The 2025 LEAP Energy Fair will be held at CBMS gym, on Saturday April 5 from 9 AM to 2 PM.  Please come join us!)

  • On Tuesday, March 12 Alayna Howard and Kit Walker from LEAP gave presentations about ‘Saving Energy and Helping the Planet’ to students at the Brookside Primary School. They talked about various steps people can take to make a positive difference, and then and the students designed related posters that were displayed at the April 13 LEAP Energy Fair. After the Fair, LEAP provided the students with a pizza party to thank them for their work.

  • Thursday, May 30 LEAP had an Exhibit of Electric Lawn Tools at the Waterbury Farmer’s Market. LEAP volunteers Bill April and Andrew Rianhard displayed electric-powered mowers, weed-whackers, trimmers, chain saws, and a snow blower, and explained to local residents how the tools worked, and how people could enjoy much quieter tools while also reducing their emissions.

  • LEAP supported the Waterbury Greenways project that will enhance the bike and pedestrian path connecting Waterbury and Waterbury Center.

  • Each year Waterbury in Motion (a LEAP program) helps organize two Walk & Bike to School Days with Brookside Primary School and Crossett Brook Middle School.  At each event, up to 200 children and adults gather at Rusty Parker Park. LEAP provided a free breakfast — bagels, fruit, OJ, coffee, muffins, cider.  After breakfast, the children and their chaperones bike, walk, or scooter to their respective schools. This year’s events took place on June 5 and October 2.

  • LEAP is assisting the Planning Commission to write the Energy Section of the Waterbury Town Plan.

  • On Wednesday, August 14 we hosted yet another LEAP Electric Vehicle Fest. Dozens of local folks toured 20 electric vehicles and EV hybrids and talked with local owners about their vehicles. They also saw electric lawn equipment and electric bikes. Dave Roberts from Drive Electric Vermont spoke to attendees about the new EVs that have come on the market recently, the advantages of owning an EV, and the various tax credits and incentives currently available to Vermonters. To learn more about electric lawn equipment, visit mowelectric.org. Drive Electric Vermont has an excellent fact sheet listing all the EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs currently available in Vermont, with their price, range, tax credits, lease prices, and listing which are available in all-wheel drive. Learn more at driveelectricvt.com

  • LEAP is partnering with the town of Waterbury to apply for a ~$100,000 Better Connections Grant from the Vermont Department of Transportation (VTrans). If we receive it, the grant will be used to hire transportation consultants to create a community-based visioning plan for the core village area of Waterbury Center that explores opportunities for multi-modal connectivity, traffic calming, access management, and other steps to help local residents, employees, and visitors move between and among the various attractions safely and easily, while strengthening environmental, economic and community vitality in this area.

  • For the first time, LEAP participated in the Window Dressers Program in which LEAP and other community members built low-cost window inserts so neighbors could be warmer this winter and reduce their energy use. Recipients of insulated window inserts pay a modest fee and can also volunteer to further reduce costs. LEAP partnered with town energy committees in the Mad River Valley, and together built and delivered almost 200 inserts for 34 homes. Eighty volunteers built the inserts from November 7 to 12 at the Waitsfield United Church of Christ.

  • On Friday, November 15 LEAP held a free Button Up Weatherization & Home Heating Workshop at the Steele Room in the Municipal Complex.  The free event drew 37 attendees who learned how to tighten up their home to save fuel and money. A senior energy consultant from Efficiency Vermont spoke about: the most common ways homes lose energy; DIY steps you can take to tighten up your house; energy audits and how they work; energy-efficient heating systems such as heat pumps; loans and incentives to help get the work done; and rebates for those affected by recent flooding. To learn more about ways to tighten up your home and save energy visit efficiencyvermont.com