Global Links

Block Grants for Energy Efficiency and Conservation

Jan 2 2009
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 2, 2009 - 8:03pm

This is a guest post by Amy Hattan, Director of Strategic Partnerships atSecond Nature.

Earlier this year, the ACUPCC supporting orgainzations initiated a new collaboration between The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the ACUPCC to examine ways to work together cooperatively to advance our shared climate and sustainability goals. The ACUPCC staff are working with USCM leaders and staff to explore ways we can support these shared efforts, including encouraging your mayor or others in your region who may not yet have signed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to do so.  There is now high likelihood that the new Obama Administration will propose and Congress will enact a national economic recovery plan that will include new federal funding commitments aimed at reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The USCM has made funding of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program a key element of its MainStreet Economic Recovery Plan. Specifically, the Conference is urging a $5 - $10 billion funding commitment to this program, a USCM-led initiative that was adopted as part of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.

If funded, this block grant structure would deliver federal resources directly to every city of 35,000 or more population and every county of 200,000 or more population, prompting these city and county leaders to move forward quickly to launch what will be thousands of "ready to go" energy efficiency and renewable energy development projects. In addition to projects, each of these jurisdictions must develop a city and county energy strategy within 12 months to guide the expenditure of future block grant funds.  We want to make sure that you are aware of this potential so that you can begin to reach out to your mayors now.
These block grant resources will create new opportunities for ACUPCC signatories to partner with mayors to support them as they undertake "ready to go" energy projects and develop their citywide energy strategies, activities which will dramatically accelerate the pace and breadth of existing local climate commitments.  These flexible funds can support energy retrofits in public and private buildings or finance the installation of solar panels or wind turbines for the production of electricity, among other possibilities. Campuses could provide candidate projects, offer technical and other support services to help cities evaluate and monitor projects, and play a pivotal role in working with the mayor and other city officials as they formulate their city energy strategy that will guide the use of future block grant resources. Of course, all of this is contingent upon success in securing block grant funding in the economic recovery plan, resources that will flow quickly if this comes to fruition.  This program is an excellent complement to the education related recommendations that the Campaign for Environmental Literacy and the ACUPCC is making to the new Obama Administration (see http://www.secondnature.org/documents/GreenEducationStimulus.pdf).

There are now 606 signatories to the ACUPCC and 905 mayoral signatories to the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (a voluntary commitment by each mayor to reduce citywide carbon emissions by seven percent below 1990 levels by the end of 2012).  Many ACUPCC signatories are already working with a signatory mayor(s) on partnerships and other means to reduce emission levels at their institutions and cities.   The ACUPCC supporting organizations are now assembling a database of ACUPCC and Mayoral signatories to keep all of us all better informed, and to support future outreach and other initiatives to help campuses and mayors advance common carbon reduction goals.

Finally, the supporting organizations are continuing to evaluate the most effective ways to assemble and disseminate information on best practices and other initiatives of successful collaborations between cities and your institutions. This will be a top priority for in 2009. We would certainly welcome any suggestions and/or any specific examples of climate action partnerships that you have undertaken with cities and towns or plan to initiate in the coming months as we move forward in this area.  Your stories will help to inform this work and may be published in the U.S. Mayor Newspaper or in other outlets with your permission.  Please send your stories and suggestions to Amy Hattan at ahattan@secondnature.org.