NATIONAL NEWS
NASEO Southwest Regional Meeting Summary
On April 26 and 27, NASEO members from Arizona, American Samoa, New Mexico,
Nevada and Utah met to discuss the importance of energy programs to economic
development and national security needs. The meeting, held in Salt Lake
City, was organized by NASEO and hosted by the Utah State Energy Program.
Over the course of the day-and-a-half meeting, state energy officials discussed
critical issues facing their states and energy priorities within the Southwest
Region.
"The meeting was a step toward building stronger relationships among the
states, but it also identified needs that NASEO can assist with at the national
and regional levels," said David Terry, Executive Director of NASEO.
The meeting was the third in a series of peer exchanges that NASEO is holding
around the country for State and Territory Energy Officials. In early
April, meetings were held for Central Region states in New Orleans and Southeast
Region states in Atlanta. An upcoming meeting for Northwest States is
planned for May 9 and 10 in Seattle.
Reupena Tagaloa, Energy Director of the Territorial Energy Office in American
Samoa, said the meeting was very valuable in that it not only served as a forum
for participants to get acquainted and learn more about each other's agencies
and programs, but it provided the opportunity to exchange ideas on
self-sustaining energy and financing programs to better position Energy Offices
in the future.
Presenters included Dale Hahs from the Energy Services Coalition and Curtis
Framel from SWEEP. Their presentations not only touched on self-sustaining
programs, but also on ways to build better relationships with DOE's technology
program offices (Buildings, Wind, Solar, Industrial, Fossil and Transportation).
"There are major changes happening on the national energy landscape," added
David Terry, "and the need to work jointly across State Energy Offices has never
been greater. This meeting and the others throughout the country, are part
of NASEO's efforts to highlight the value of investing funds in energy programs
through the state energy offices."
NASEO
Building Energy Codes Roundtable
NASEO and the Energy Foundation are hosting a "Building Energy Codes
Roundtable Workshop" on Tuesday, May 17, 2011, to develop actionable
recommendations towards further progress in building code adoption, compliance,
and enforcement at the state and local levels. Attendance at this workshop
will be limited to approximately 40 key stakeholders representing federal,
state, national, and regional organizations engaged in energy codes, along with
advocates for code stringency and enforcement. This event is by invitation
only. If you have questions about this event, please contact Garth Otto (gotto@naseo.org).
NASEO Submits Comments on Senate Clean Energy Standard Whitepaper
In early April, NASEO submitted a response to the joint request of Chairman
Bingaman (D-NM) and Ranking Member Murkowski (R-AK) of the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee for comments on key questions and potential designs
elements of a Clean Energy Standard (CES). The purpose of this document is
to lay out some of the key questions and potential design elements of a CES, in
order to solicit input from a broad range of interested parties, to facilitate
discussion, and to ascertain whether or not consensus can be achieved.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a Clean Energy
Standard (CES) to require that 80 percent of the nation’s electricity come from
clean energy technologies by 2035. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR)
Committee now faces a threshold question of what the general policy goals for
the electric sector are and whether a CES would most effectively achieve them.
Is the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower electricity costs, spur
utilization of particular assets, diversify supply, or some combination thereof?
Depending on the goals, is a CES the right policy for the nation at this time?
If so, is 80 percent by 2035 the right target? If not, should alternatives to
reach similar goals be considered?
In summary, NASEO’s response stressed a “no federal preemption of states”
position, supported strong consideration for an energy efficiency resource
standard, and did not endorse the inclusion or exclusion of any specific
technologies. View the NASEO
executive summary response here.
Responses to specific questions are here:
Question 1;
Question 2; and
Question 6.
Visit the Senate Energy and Natural Resources CES whitepaper here:
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=IssueItems.View&IssueItem_ID=7b61e406-3e17-4927-b3f4-d909394d46de.
HUD
Selects Lenders to Participate in New Pilot Program to Help Homeowners Pay for
Energy Improvements to Their Homes
Eighteen national, regional and local lenders will participate in a new
two-year pilot program that will offer qualified borrowers living in certain
parts of the country low-cost loans to make energy-saving improvements to their
homes. Backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), these new
PowerSaver loans will offer homeowners up to $25,000 to make energy-efficient
improvements of their choice, including the installation of insulation, duct
sealing, replacement doors and windows, HVAC systems, water heaters, solar
panels, and geothermal systems.
STATE NEWS
Indiana Launches the Community Energy Plan Program
The Indiana Office of Energy Development launched the Community Energy Plan
(CEP) program, which will provide an energy efficiency plan to some of Indiana’s
smaller cities and towns. Communities that apply and are accepted to the
program will have the audit and energy plan development completed free of
charge. The CEP program is available to non-entitlement communities in Indiana.
These are incorporated cities and towns below 35,000 in population, or counties
below 200,000 in population. The funds for this program come from the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG)
program. The CEP Program will provide a comprehensive inventory of all
community energy usage. This includes but is not limited to buildings, fleets,
streetlights and wastewater treatment facilities. The audit will identify
potential energy savings and potential measures to attain those savings. The
plan developed for the communities will offer suggestions on how the energy
efficiency efforts can be incorporated in all levels of the community’s
decision-making process. Please
click here to download the full program
guidelines.
Iowa State Energy Program Grants to Help Increase Use of Biofuels
Three grants, totaling $933,000, have been awarded for renewable fuels
education, marketing and outreach efforts to help boost increased use of both
ethanol blended gasoline and biodiesel. The grants were awarded under the Iowa
State Energy Program (SEP) and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
These targeted projects will promote Iowa's biofuel economy and help create jobs
in this key industry. To review the Iowa State Energy Program information,
please visit: www.energy.iowa.gov.
Massachusetts Announces Federally-Funded “Smart Building” Training Program
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) announced a new
federally-funded program, “Smart Building: High Performance Homes,” which will
train Massachusetts builders to use thermal imaging-enhanced building
assessments to boost the energy efficiency of Massachusetts homes. The
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the Commonwealth $350,000 to fund
activities that improve energy performance of Massachusetts buildings, including
the Smart Building training. Massachusetts is among 24 states sharing $7 million
in DOE’s Building Energy Codes program, which, according to the DOE, has
dramatically reduced energy use and carbon pollution and saved an estimated $16
billion for US consumers since its start 20 years ago.
NYSERDA Invests $20 million in Combined Heat and Power Projects
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will
invest $20 million in combined heat and power generation projects to
improve energy efficiency at 19 hospitals, paper mills, supermarkets, apartment
complexes and other facilities in New York City and upstate. Funding for
the projects will leverage an additional $68 million in private investment
toward the cost of buying and installing the technology, which generates on-site
electricity while also making use of the heat created during generation.
The NYSERDA incentive pays between 30 to 50 percent of the cost of a CHP
project, up to $2 million. The exact percentage is based on a variety of
considerations.
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