Energy Block Grants Work

Brevard County, Florida, Could Save 2,597 megawatt-hours

david — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:06:29 +0000

Brevard County, Florida, has received a $2.9 million efficiency-conservation grant for high-tech roofs, windows, lights and temperature-control systems at taxpayer-owned buildings in Sharpes, Titusville, Melbourne and Viera.These Brevard projects might save 2,597 megawatt-hours of energy and prevent 104,137 metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions. Check out the story in Florida Today:
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110302/NEWS01/103020328/Federal-grant-powers-energy-saving-projects-Brevard?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Local%20News

Election Day and Local Energy Programs

Andy — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:06:37 +0000

Tomorrow’s election day will provide some light on how steep our effort will be to fund the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program next year. Climate Communities’ Energy Block Grants Work! campaign is demonstrating that the EECBG program is helping local governments to create jobs, reduce energy use and curb greenhouse gas emissions. Our goal is to get President Obama and Congress to fully fund the program in FY 2012. If the U.S. House of Representatives changes parties as many predict, we’ll see a new group of Republicans taking over key committee posts. Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey would become more central in our effort to urge Congress to provide new resources for the EECBG program. It will be very important to seek strong support from local elected leaders in these states. Divided government would also likely diminish the opportunity for national clean energy and climate policy. I’ll be interested to see who in the 112^th Congress takes ownership of these issues. Get yourself a full night of sleep because tomorrow the candle will be burning late!

-Andy Seth

Huntington Beach Leverages EECBG Funding

jon — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:56:03 +0000

Great EECBG success story out of Huntington Beach, California. Huntington Beach used EECBG funding for catalytic research and consulting that led to the deployment of 2 MW of solar capacity at no upfront cost to the City.

EECBG Best Practices Workshop

jon — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:48:14 +0000

The Maryland Energy Administration is hosting an EECBG Best Practices workshop on Tuesday, October 26. If you can’t make it to Annapolis on 24 hours notice, it is still worth a visit to the website – they have posted a lot of good resources on navigating the trickier aspects of EECBG grant implementation.

Detroit Publicizes EECBG Successes

jon — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:08:12 +0000

The City of Detroit had a press conference yesterday to talk about how they are spending $9 million in EECBG funding. They expect that these efficiency improvements will produce $30 million in cost savings over the next decade. That’s quite a return on investment!

EECBG Lauded in Senate Debate

jon — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 21:25:48 +0000

In the final weeks before the November elections, it is nearly impossible to pay attention to all the political news on the airwaves, so for those who missed last week’s Delaware Senate debate, the EECBG program received accolades from New Castle County Executive Chris Coons during this nationally televised event. When asked about the best way for our country to reduce its carbon emissions, Coons cited the EECBG program’s impact on New Castle County and said that EECBG “[has] the most impact of anything you can do that will actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

The LA Times has posted a full transcript of the debate for those interested.

Bipartisan Report on Clean Energy Promotion Published

jon — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:28:12 +0000

The Brookings Institute, the American Enterprise Institute and the Breakthrough Institute released an interesting report today on ways to spark a clean energy economy in America. For a Congress struggling to find bipartisan energy solutions, this report from respected think tanks situated on both sides of the political aisle is likely to generate some buzz on Capitol Hill. While the report doesn’t get into great detail about policy implementation, it does offer a few unorthodox ideas, including using DoD procurement resources to promote energy innovation. Overall, quite succinct and worth a read.

NYT Article Highlights Benefits of Electric Vehicle Ownership

jon — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:21:55 +0000

The New York Times had an interesting article today about how the first customers that have committed to buying Nissan Leafs are being showered with federal/state/local financial benefits and personal attention from Nissan execs. Sounds like quite the deal and really illustrates the future we are working towards! Several communities (including King County, Washington) are using their EECBG funding to participate in “The EV Project” mentioned in the article. Nothing’s going to accelerate EV adoption like investing in local communities!

Great Videos Highlight Local EECBG Successes

jon — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:34:18 +0000

Recently came across these videos that the Michigan Municipal League created with the help of several EECBG non-entitlement communities in Michigan. They interview real local energy leaders talking about how they acquired EECBG funding from the state and used it to make a difference in their communities. Great idea!

Videos are available on the MML’s YouTube channel. Check out the videos for the City of Holland, City of Charlevoix, City of Greenville, Charlevoix County, Emmet County and Muskegon County.

We Launched our Facebook Page

david — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:48:20 +0000

We recently launched our Facebook page to help spread the word about Energy Block Grants. Check us out and give us a Like to help stay in touch.