AUGUSTA -- Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday called on Mainers to team up and resort to their "Yankee ingenuity" to overcome the spiraling cost of heating their homes this winter.

In the governor's vision, electric company meter readers, oil distributors and businesses big and small would collaborate to ensure the state's most vulnerable citizens receive the assistance they need to stay warm.

"We need to empower and help everyone everywhere as much as we can," the governor said in a Statehouse ceremony where he accepted recommendations from a 90-member task force on helping residents survive winter. "We need them all, and they all need to be involved, and we need to understand that it's upon us to help our neighbors and friends."

In the same ceremony, the governor said he was still "not sure" whether he would convene a special legislative session to address rising energy costs.

"The question is what can't I do that requires legislative action," he said. "I'm going to do everything short of that."

The governor said he will review the recommendations made in the task force's report and create an action plan based on those suggestions.

Baldacci called on Mainers to think differently when tackling their energy woes.

Those who deliver services to residents' homes should be ready to share information about reducing energy use, he said.

Citizens should enroll in courses that allow them to become experts in improving homes' energy efficiency.

Retailers should allow commuters to park cars and meet carpool partners in their sprawling parking lots.

"We should not be doing the same old things in the same old way," Baldacci said. "We need to utilize this great array of resources that we have."

The resources needed to combat an energy crisis are available, the governor said. They are too dispersed, however, to allow easy citizen access.

"They're all over the place," he said. "We've got to put them under one umbrella."

The task force's seven short-term recommendations include:

* centralizing information about energy programs and services;

* conducting energy audits of homes and business;

* helping hospitals, schools, nursing homes, municipalities, social-service agencies and businesses finance energy efficiency improvements;

* providing education and training to residents to explain what they can do to prepare to the coming winter;

* expanding transportation options; and

* creating local teams to address residents' safety, security and warmth in their homes.

The one overlying goal of taking these actions, Baldacci said, is to reduce the amount of oil consumed in Maine.

While Baldacci and John M. Kerry, director of the governor's office of energy independence and security, expressed confidence that acting on the task force's recommendations would make a difference, they acknowledged the impact would be limited.

"Everyone knew that we had limited resources and couldn't solve all the problems," Kerry said.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com