The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced details for $3.2 billion in block grants intended to help cities, counties, states and territories invest in energy efficiency and conservation projects.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, funded by the recently passed stimulus act, will provide formula grants for projects that reduce total energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency.
Funding will support energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements.
Other activities eligible for use of grant funds include transportation programs that conserve energy, projects to reduce and capture methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, renewable energy installations on government buildings, energy efficient traffic signals and street lights, deployment of Combined Heat and Power and district heating and cooling systems, and others.
“Local leaders will have the flexibility in how they put these resources to work–but we will hold them accountable for making the investments quickly and wisely to spur the local economy and cut energy use,” Vice President Joe Biden said.
To ensure accountability, the DOE said it will require grant recipients to report on the number of green jobs created or retained, energy saved, renewable energy capacity installed, greenhouse gas emissions reduced, and funds leveraged. Funding is based on a formula that accounts for population and energy use.
Cities and counties will receive nearly $1.9 billion under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, and states and territories will receive nearly $770 million.
States will receive and administer funds for those counties and cities that are not large enough to qualify for direct DOE funding. In addition, more than $54 million will flow directly to Tribal governments.
Up to $456 million of this funding is planned to be made available under a separate competitive solicitation for local energy efficiency projects. That solicitation will be released at a later date.
This funding is in addition to DOE’s recent release of nearly $8 billion to support weatherization and state energy projects.
A detailed breakdown of the funding by state, county, city and tribal government is available at the link below.
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How odd. The government taxes us, then gives our tax money back to us as “grants”. How inefficient. This leads me to wonder why we have a DOE. Perhaps we’d be better off paying less taxes and no DOE.