The President’s infrastructure plan proposes major investments in affordable housing, smart growth, and affordable transportation that better connects us—with an overall goal of addressing climate change and eliminating racial and economic disparities. But how we target the funding matters as much as how much we spend.
Absent major changes, the majority of the nuclear power plants in the U.S. may close in the next few decades. This presents an enormous economic development challenge in what are mostly fairly small or rural communities where these plants are located.
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently began a pilot program for “PowerSaver”, a new loan that will allow Maine homeowners to borrow up to $25,000 to make energy improvements. These improvements will be based on a list of proven measures developed by FHA and the Department of Energy (DOE) that will make weatherization and comfort improvements easy and affordable across the state.
From GOVERNING: GOVERNING invites you to participate in a FREE Webinar on April 12, 2011 from 2:00pm ET-3:00pm ET: Smart, Sustainable, Livable Communities: Plans, Projects and Key Market Drivers 80% of voters nationwide agree that sustainable communities are an important part of rebuilding the national economy. 84% of Americans believe that our country is too … Continued
From Enterprise Community Partners:
Green Asset Management Toolkit (PDF)
A powerful tool for improving the performance of existing buildings, the toolkit helps reduce operating costs and environmental hazards, improve utility savings and draw prospective residents to an attractive, healthy living environment.
From EPA:
Sponsored by DOE’s Technical Assistance Program for state and local officials, this webinar will feature presentations on community renewable programs, with a focus on wind projects, and how these can be models for communities interested in owning and developing wind projects to provide locally produced clean energy.
From EPA:
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Technical Assistance Program for state and local officials, this webinar shares strategies to put existing public buildings on the path to becoming high-performance buildings. The webinar will give an overview of a new guide being developed by Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) and regional stakeholders filled with low- to no-cost strategies to reduce energy and water consumption, maintain renewable energy systems, commission your existing buildings, select environmentally friendly materials, and more.
A new article in National Geographic details the efforts of the federal General Services Administration (GSA) to improve sustainability in federal buildings, with the help of $4.5 billion in ARRA stimulus funds. The federal government leases or owns 500,000 buildings nationwide. So far, GSA has awarded 70 solar photovoltaic projects, projects for advanced electricity metering … Continued
EPA brings us their round-up of available federal funding from HUD, USDA, the Department of Commerce, and EPA that can be used to support climate and energy initiatives: EDA Global Climate Change Mitigation Incentive Fund – $14.7 million Application Due: September 30, 2010 Eligible Entities: State and local governments, nonprofit organizations The U.S. Department of … Continued
ICLEI has launched a new digital magazine covering the innovative practices of local governments “to make their communities cleaner, more economically prosperous, and more livable.” As the magazine’s name Planet Earth suggests, coverage focuses on the environmental aspects of livability, from climate change to energy efficiency. The first issue is chock full of features including: … Continued