DOE to Fund 'Retrofit Ramp-Up' Program for Energy Efficiency
October 1, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
To initiate the program, the DOE released a request for information (RFI) for competitively-selected local energy efficiency projects.
This competitive portion of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program will target community-scale retrofit projects that make long-term impacts on energy use and can serve as national role models for grassroots energy efficiency efforts, according to the DOE.
The purpose of the EECBG Program is to serve as a deployment mechanism for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and to assist eligible entities to create and implement strategies to:
- Reduce fossil fuel emissions in an environmentally sustainable manner that maximizes benefits for the local and regional communities.
- Reduce the total energy use of the eligible entities.
- Improve energy efficiency in the building sector, the transportation sector and other appropriate sectors.
According to the DOE, it seeks instead to stimulate activities and investments which can:
- Deliver verified energy savings from a variety of projects in the local jurisdiction of the applicant, with a particular emphasis on efficiency improvements in residential, commercial and public buildings.
- Achieve broader market participation and greater efficiency savings from retrofits.
- Sustain themselves beyond the grant monies and the grant period by designing a viable strategy for program sustainability into the overall program plan.
- Serve as examples of community-scale energy-efficiency strategies that could be replicated in other communities across the country.
These will be projects that demonstrate a sustainable business model for providing cost-effective energy upgrades for a large percentage of the residential, commercial and public buildings in a specific community, according to the DOE.
Possible approaches could include partnerships between the public and private sector, utility retrofit and audit programs, alternative financing and retail partnerships, among others. DOE will award up to $390 million for these projects.
The second topic area - with up to $64 million - is reserved for cities, counties and state-recognized Indian tribes that were not eligible to receive population-based formula grant allocations from the DOE under the EECBG program.
The DOE will accept feedback on both topic areas.
For more information, read "Recovery Act Request for Information (RFI): Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program: Competitive Grants."
Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).