Pennsylvania’s Governor Edward G. Rendell has announced a $22 million Conservation Works! grant program that will save more than 570 million kW hours of electricity, generate an additional 14.4 million kW hours, and reduce natural gas use by 2.1 million thousand cubic feet over the lifetimes of the various projects. Conservation Works! provides grants of up to $250,000 to individual local government and non-profit entities and $500,000 for combined government projects to reduce energy use.
The Conservation Works! program is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to help local government and non-profit organizations improve energy efficiency, curb energy consumption and reduce energy costs by at least 25%.
“Federal Recovery money is making it possible for Pennsylvanians to conserve energy to help meet our future energy needs,” said Governor Rendell. “Conservation Works! will move shovel-ready projects toward completion. The energy savings generated by these projects means more money will be available for other municipal projects, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 450,000 tons—the equivalent of removing nearly 75,000 passenger cars from our roads.”
The program covers Pennsylvania boroughs, townships and cities with fewer than 35,000 residents and counties with fewer than 200,000 residents, municipalities not eligible for direct formula grants from the energy efficiency and conservation block grant program.
More than $15.3 million will be distributed to local governments, with the remainder going to non-profit organizations. All projects must create jobs, be able to start work within six months and be completed prior to May 31, 2011.
Grants were awarded to 99 projects in 48 counties. The Department of Environmental Protection received more than 500 applications. Combined, the projects conserve enough electricity to power 57,000 homes and conserve enough natural gas to heat an additional 24,700 homes for one year. Five projects will use solar and wind technology to generate enough electricity to power more than 1,400 homes for one year.
“More than 4,000 traffic signals will be replaced with more energy efficient models,” said Governor Rendell. “When you consider that traffic signals operate around the clock, making signals more energy efficient will quickly result in a significant savings. Every kilowatt hour saved results in taxpayer dollars retained by each municipality, and that money can then be used to address other areas of need.”
“That was the goal of this program—help governments and non-profits help themselves by generating opportunities to conserve energy and save money.”