Just in time for Earth Week, federal funds were allocated to the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), which means potential green jobs for the area.
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Mayor Dave Norris says that local energy retrofits will generate cash in addition to saving on bills. “Someone is going to have to do these retrofits and that’s going to create jobs in our community.” |
“It’s very exciting. It’s big news for anybody who cares about the environment, about job creation, about lowering our utility bills,” says Mayor Dave Norris.
On the eve of Earth Day, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the federal government will invest $452 million in communities around the nation. Of that total, $20 million in Recovery Act funding will go to the SEEA, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Money will go toward retrofits—improvements to existing structures to help them save energy.
“What we really need to make an impact is a substantial pot of funding,” says Norris. “And that’s what the announcement will help us do.”
Ben Taube, SEEA’s executive director, tells C-VILLE that SEEA originally applied for $62 million from the Department of Energy in December. Based on that amount, Taube says that SEEA budgeted about $2.8 million for both Charlottesville and Albemarle. Because the agency was awarded $20 million, the allocation to this area will be considerably less than hoped for.
Last summer, the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County launched a Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) initiative with a $500,000 SEEA grant that will help with infrastructure. Norris says that both localities set ambitious LEAP goals: reach 20 to 40 percent energy savings and retrofit 30 to 50 percent of area homes and businesses in the next five to seven years.
“In the process, you create a lot of economic activity,” says Norris. “Someone is going to have to do these retrofits and that’s going to create jobs in our community.” Local residents can find information on LEAP audits and contractors who perform retrofits as part of the program at leap-va.org.
At present, it’s still unclear how much of the $20 million Charlottesville will get. SEEA will fund “specific projects” for “a combination of small and large residential, commercial and public buildings,” according to a White House press release. “Each participating city will use a different approach, allowing the Alliance to test and evaluate models and adjust as needed.”
Residential and commercial buildings consume a reported 40 percent of the nation’s energy, according to the news release. By retrofitting these structures, which are responsible for 49 percent of carbon emissions, energy bills can decrease by $49 billion per year.
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