Tuesday, December 29, 2009

A Matter of Constitution

Sightline Institute's Roger Valdez picks up on some old-school laws that may hold our state back from innovative energy efficiency financing opportunities. You Say You Want a Constitution

Thursday, December 24, 2009

$500,000 Awarded for Credit Enhancement!

The City of Bellingham and the Opportunity Council have been awarded $500,000 for energy efficiency credit enhancement through the Washington State Energy Program and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These funds will be combined with existing commitments of $750,000 to seed a loan program for energy efficiency projects as part of the local Community Energy Challenge.

Click here for the press release

Washington State Gov. Chris Gregoire announced award recipients on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The 5 Ws (and an H)

WHAT: Making Whatcom County the most energy efficiency community in America!
WHEN: January 2010-December 2012
WHERE: Bellingham and Whatcom County
WHY: Energy efficiency creates green jobs, saves consumers money, reduces green house gas emissions, and strengthens our local economy.
HOW: By providing a One Stop Energy Shop for all energy efficiency needs.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Where has all my heating gone?

This handy diagram from the EPA may have the answer. This picture shows the typical places where cold air sneaks in and warm air eeks out.  Experts estimate that the average house loses 30% of its conditioned air to the great outdoors. If the average household spends $1,810 on energy bills every year thats $543 just slipping through the cracks! Luckily, air sealing is inexpensive and extremely effective.

Request for Qualifications Now Available!

The Community Energy Challenge is now seeking applications from qualified contractors for the purpose of performing home energy audits and conducting retrofit jobs to make older homes more energy efficient. The Request For Qualifications document is available along with information pertaining to the program at http://www.communityenergychallenge.org/. The deadline for applications is noon on January 11, 2010. A Question and Answer session will be held on January 6th (details about the session are available in the RFQ document).