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Contact your local government officials about StimulusCurrent Status: Over Results: Appear Favorable Based on preliminary indications, it appears that almost all cities in Alameda County will be contributing towards the development of stopwaste.org’s “Green Packages” program. This is county-wide program for improving existing buildings and landscapes that maximizes the long-term benefits from Federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) ‘formula’ distributions to Alameda County jurisdictions, and increases competitiveness for additional funding. The project will promote a comprehensive green approach (energy, water, waste, health, resources) even if only a portion can currently be financed. It will promote these packages as a regional and statewide standard. The project will also develop a Technical Advisory Group to help make specifications widely accepted and useful; conduct extensive outreach to help property owners know their retrofit options; perform training, verification and tracking to help property owners and funders maintain quality; and leverage funding for implementation from multiple sources. The campaign below was started May 18, 2009 Now is the time to let our local government officials know that a comprehensive building retrofit and solar program will generate thousands of new long term jobs while maximizing quantified energy, water, and carbon reductions. While we applaud Berkeley for their work on sustainable energy financing districts, financing alone will not get the East Bay anywhere close to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) 2020 target of a 40% energy reduction on average for all homes. We recommend that East Bay Cities set aside a small portion (e.g., 10%) of their stimulus funds for the administration of a county-wide program that coordinates workforce development, outreach, and quality assurance on a regional basis while enabling cities to address their city-specific needs. Investing in a comprehensive community-scale building retrofit program would provide much greater returns than putting solar on municipal buildings. Benefits include increased sales tax revenue, new long term jobs, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Our Recommendation We recommend that local governments invest 10% of their Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) formula dollars to help build program infrastructure and necessary program elements (e.g. workforce, marketing & outreach, quality assurance, administrative, etc.) needed for successful implementation of sustainable energy financing district. Furthermore, we further recommend that cities in Alameda county work together to apply for the competitive EECBG grants. Organizations supporting comprehensive AB811 type programs and the idea of setting aside some stimulus funding for such a program include:
Act Now!
Please send an email or call the key influencers in your locale. Contacts for Oakland, Berkeley, and Hayward are below. Please also email dave@baylocalize.org to let us know who you contacted so we can track the outreach.
Overview of the Recommended Program Voluntary AB811 or Mello Roos special districts are the centerpiece of the program because they remove the high first cost barrier by providing low-interest long-term financing to building owners via annual property tax payments that transfer with the building when sold. However, in order to ensure significant market penetration and program success several supporting program elements are required. These include consistent and credible program standards for energy efficiency with clear verification protocols, training to ensure a robust and capable workforce, an effective marketing and outreach strategy offering bundled incentives to attain high participation, and a strict quality assurance program to protect consumers and reduce local government liability. In addition, ongoing tracking, measurement, and reporting is required to ensure program effectiveness and to quantify energy, water, and carbon reduction benefits. A portion (10%) of each participating local government’s ARRA Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funding would be committed to help build program infrastructure and necessary program elements (e.g. policy, workforce, marketing & outreach, quality assurance, administrative, etc.) needed for successful implementation of an AB811 or Mello Roos special assessment district. The California Energy Commission (CEC) is exploring the potential of matching that amount if local governments join larger county or COG-level aggregations for greater efficiency. AB811 or Mello Roos special assessment districts and new mortgage instruments such as FHA 203K loans would provide the financing to building owners. New and expanded 2009-11 utility-funded programs will add cash incentives for both broad building retrofits and renewables. NSP funds also can be utilized to retrofit foreclosed properties and incorporate green improvements.
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