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Wednesday, May 4, 2011
News / Biz Renewable energy money being spread around North Carolina
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Wed, May 4, 2011 at 9:21 AM
A number of news articles have recently been circulating about renewable energy grants being awarded to operations in North Carolina. Here are a few of the headlines:
Wake Forest gets $145K grant for biodiesel project — The Winston-Salem Journal
Local operations receive $600k for energy efficient projects — The Jacksonville Daily News
Western North Carolina farms get renewable energy grant — The Asheville Citizen-Times
N.C. approves large wind farm in Pasquotank, Perquimans — The Virginian Pilot
In other, related, North Carolina renewable energy news:
Soaking up the sun: In past year, solar panels generated enough energy for 150 homes — The Shelby Star
(Note which city isn't listed above: Charlotte.)
Meanwhile, the North Carolina Housing Coalition issued this press release yesterday, lauding House Bill 874 and calling for greater energy efficiency and weatherization of older homes:
NC SAVE$ ENERGY Bill Filed to Create Statewide Independent Energy Efficiency Program
Over 50 Groups and Businesses Endorse Public Benefit Fund for Efficiency
Raleigh, NC—Representative Paul Luebke of Durham and co-sponsors from Asheville, Greensboro and Winston-Salem have filed House Bill 874 to create an NC SAVE$ ENERGY Public Benefit Fund to increase efficiency in homes and public service buildings across the state. Luebke noted that increasing energy efficiency in homes and public buildings across the state is critical to reduce energy demand. "This bill is the best tool we have to prevent costly electricity rate hikes that would pay for new power plant construction," Luebke said.
The Fund would support weatherization of several thousand homes each year, including a revolving loan fund available to residents of all income levels to make improvements affordable. It will maintain jobs and skills that have been developed over the past two years with ARRA funds and would otherwise be lost next spring when that funding ends, while we still have over 200,000 older, inefficient homes. Efficiency improvements are much cheaper per kilowatt hour saved—only 3 to 6 cents--when compared to the cost of providing new energy sources.
“Without a sustainable source of funding for efficiency improvements,” says Chris Estes, executive director of the NC Housing Coalition, “our older housing will continue to fall farther out of repair, causing increased energy costs to folks who can least afford them.”
The Fund would be managed by the State Energy Office, which currently administers federal and state weatherization programs. An independent Board and annual evaluations will optimize programs and prevent conflicts of interest. NC SAVE$ ENERGY would work through contracts with existing small businesses and non-profits, as well as training and certification for new contractors. The Public Benefit Fund would also provide affordable loans, educational programs and incentives for efficient appliances and efficiency improvements.
Richard Fireman of Interfaith Power and Light, a Project of the NC Council of Churches, says “NC SAVE$ ENERGY will serve a broad spectrum of people in North Carolina - a struggling middle class, the under and unemployed, the poor, elderly and others on fixed incomes - by saving them money on energy costs immediately and for the long run. It will also provide more affordable comfort during cold winters and increasingly hot summers.”
Hope Taylor of Clean Water for NC, a group working to reduce energy impacts on water, as well as costs for low income ratepayers, says, “We can’t afford to lose hundreds of jobs and lots of great skills that have been built over the past two years in NC. Public benefit funds have brought major progress in reducing energy demand several states—it’s time we had one, too!”
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The Alliance for NC SAVE$ ENERGY is over 50 organizations and small businesses endorsing an independently administered public benefit fund for statewide energy efficiency. Please visit www.ncsavesenergy.org to learn more about the proposal and supporters
Further reading: The Charlotte Business Journal offers some insight into other renewable energy bills circulating around the state house. Read it here: "Energy Inc.: GOP brings shift in N.C. energy policy?" (Subscription required.) The article can be best summed up, however, by a quote from a Duke Energy representative: “There are a lot of interests out there,” he says. “But it looks like there are too many pushing in too many different directions.”
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