The Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) has posted a schedule of anticipated American Reinvestment and Recovery (ARRA) grants to begin in January of 2010. The GEO plans to hold a webinar for each grant solicitation approximately one week after the official posting date. Note: the timeline is subject to change; grants may be pushed back to later dates, but will not open earlier.
http://www.colorado.gov/energy/index.php?/resources/category/funding-opportunities/
From Inc Magazine:
Inc. magazine’s entrepreneur of the year, Kevin Surace, founder of Serious Materials wants to save the world and make a billion dollars. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Serious Materials is a dirt-under-its-fingernails business situated among such giants of the virtual as eBay and Yahoo. Serious Materials aims to save a billion tons of carbon each year by reinventing, of all things, windows and drywall. Those may not sound like environmental supervillains (though tainted Chinese drywall has caused a panic over sulfur emissions). But after crunching some Department of Energy data, Surace estimates that the construction and operation of buildings — heating; cooling; lighting; the manufacture of cement, drywall, and glass — produce 52 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, says Surace, the “built environment” presents a far greater opportunity than oft-demonized cars and light trucks, which produce 9 percent of emissions. “What we’re doing is brand-new-materials science,” Surace says. “This is the big play.”
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091201/entrepreneur-of-the-year-kevin-surace-of-serious-materials.html
The Governor’s Energy Office announced a milestone in state weatherization work Friday - more than 2000 Colorado homes, occupied by low income residents, have received energy efficiency improvements using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars. Tom Plant, director of the Governor’s Energy Office and state Recovery Act Chief, Don Elliman hosted a senior DOE official at the home of Hazel Johnson as weatherization work was performed by Arapahoe County.
Hazel Johnson with her 3-year-old grandson, Dion Shay (Photos by Brian Brainerd)
Ms. Johnson is a 65 year old grandmother with grandchildren in her home. She said the work will make her home warmer and more comfortable for the childen. The weatherization crew is adding insulation, furnace, refrigerator and air-sealing at a cost of $4000 to make make the 1200 sq-ft home more energy efficient. The improvement will reduce Ms. Johnsons energy costs by 20-30 percent while making the home safer and more comfortable. The state weatherization program will spend nearly $80 million of ARRA funds to weatherize more than 10,000 Colorado homes. The Arapahoe County weatherization program has hired 12 new employees and purchased new equipment to deliver the increased retrofit volume. There are 11 regional weatherization providers across Colorado.
State weatherization program director Doug Karl said that weatherization for Denver and Jefferson county continues to be delivered by Sun Power as contracts are finalized with Veterans Green Jobs to take over the work next spring. The announcement that non-profit Veterans Green Jobs had been named to provide weatherization services to homes in Region 9 mentioned that their proposal featured a for-profit partner that will do the energy audits to determine retrofit measures. GEO has not released the name of the partner because contracts have not been finalized, but an unnamed source tells me it is EnergyLogic of Berthoud, Colorado. This is good news for the local energy audit business, which has been hurt by the under-priced Xcel energy audit program. EnergyLogic pulled out of the Xcel program earlier this year.
The DOE funded weatherization program was also highlighted at the annual Tribal Energy conference held in Denver late last month. DOE is ramping up energy efficiency training to native American tribes that do not currently administer their own weatherization programs. Although state weatherization programs cover every county in the US, tribal members have historically under-utilized the state weatherization programs according to Lizana Pierce, Tribal Energy Project Manager for DOE. By teaching energy efficiency skills to tribal members, there is the opportunity to create green jobs on the reservation and improve the economic health of residents.
Tribes from as far away as the Arctic Circle and Mexico border with existing weatherization programs gave presentations about retrofitting homes on tribal lands. The extreme weather conditions on reservations highlight the benefits of weatherization to these economically distressed communities. When the Alaskan Aleut tribe calls its homeland “Birthplace of the Wind”, it is a sure bet that weatherization will pay out big energy savings.
Even Global Warming “Flat-Earthers” can believe in Energy Efficiency. The benefits of EE go way beyond climate change. The United States had a culture that valued conservation of land, water and energy, long before climate became a concern. (but just in case, why not help insure the safety and economic stability of the world’s poor coastal nations by supporting carbon reduction action?)
My favorite benefit of Energy Efficiency isn’t even the “Money I Could be Saving” - thanks Geico - it’s Indoor Air Quality. So important, so basic to human health, that IAQ should be a provision of the healthcare bill.
The first step of every home weatherization are efficiency measures delivered with a blower door/thermal IR energy audit. Advanced Air Sealing can instantly reduces air leakage by 40%. The audit includes the Combustion Appliance Zone test, a fundamental healthy home test for deadly Carbon Monoxide. Colorado has been stunned by CO deaths and is sensitive to reducing CO poisoning.
The 2010 energy efficiency rebate program was proposed by the Governors Energy Office this week. There will be $700 per home for Audit and Air Seal when combined with Xcel rebates (subject to revision). That brings efficiency and CO safety within reach to most homeowners. US Weatherizing is booking Advanced Air Sealing and with Energy Audit for $299 after rebates.
Colorado energy efficiency contractors are disappointed by proposed GEO rebates for 2010.
No air-sealing requirement: The proposed rebate program calls for a $400 maximum rebate for “Insulation and Air Sealing”. There is no requirement that air-sealing be done as part of an insulation package. Most insulation contractors are not interested in air-sealing work, so in most cases, they will skip air sealing and just insulate.
Air-sealing is a step that must be completed prior to adding insulation because it is placed under insulation. The more insulation in place, the harder it is to go back and air-seal. It is likely that insulation contractors will prefer to sell the maximum R-value to consumers and ignore the greater benefit that advanced air-sealing can deliver.
Steve Byers of Energy Logic said his air-sealing technicians typically reduce residential air-leakage by 25-40% just by foaming and blocking above the home’s ceiling. The successful Weatherization Assistance Program uses air sealing as a primary energy saving strategy. Existing homes typically exchange all of the interior air to the outside every 1.5 to 3 hours.
The substantial benefits of advanced air-sealing techniques are well documented and should be mandatory in any rebate program. Minnesota, a long-time leader in advancing building efficiency offers an $800 rebate for air-sealing only, plus an additional $800 for insulation. Other rebates are increased if air-sealing is included in the retrofit work.
GEO is listening to comments from contractors about the program, so it is possible the air-sealing requirements could be improved. Send your comments on this issue to thad.kurowski@state.co.us
The GEO held a webinar today with energy audit professionals to discuss proposed ARRA funded GEO rebates for 2010. They expect to offer a 40% rebate up to $100. They are reconsidering whether to rebate the Xcel-subsidized energy audits that are already below market at $90 to $120.
The program will not roll out until first quarter of 2010 and may change based on feedback received from professionals today.
The Governor’s Energy Office held a webinar for Insulation and Air Sealing Contractors yesterday to outline the proposed 2010 rebates funded by the ARRA stimulus dollars.
Thad Kurowski in the residential programs dept at GEO said there would be a $400 statewide rebate that is capped at $600 total when combined with local or utility rebates. Insulation is required to meet the 2009 IECC for the local climate zone and rebates must be reserved in writing before work begins. The program will not launch until 2010 and is subject to change.
The program outlined does not include any requirement for air sealing prior to insulation work and therefore, no blower door tests for building tightness. Kurowski said the GEO could implement requirements for air sealing before inslulation and we believe this should be a mandatory component before adding insulation.
Building air-tightness is a primary energy efficiency strategy that is typically overlooked by insulation contractors. Air sealing must be completed before adding attic insulation and requires use of a blower door to direct air sealing work, meaure effectiveness and ensure indoor air quality is maintained.
Concerns or suggestions about the program can be directed to his office at thad.kurowski@state.co.us
Denver greenbuilder Lance Wright (Green Energy Man, Inc.) has organized a Colorado PassivHaus Alliance to spread the word about this high-performance building system based on a super-insulated shell.
I posted earlier that both 1st and 2nd place at the SolarDecathalon this year went to teams that used the PassivHaus Design Tool for their winning designs. Building Science has some good observations about using the PassivHaus system in the US.
Lance will open his “near PassivHaus” to the media and building performance professionals tomorrow, Dec. 15 at 10 am, Noon, and 2 pm. His phone number is (303)875-3228.
He wants to see a Passive House Consultant training offered in Denver by PassivHaus Institute US, and is collecting names of anyone interested in learning more about PassivHaus at www.coloradopassivehouse.org
The Governor’s Energy Office it telling renewable energy contractors that the State rebate of $1.50/watt in 2010 will be capped at $3/watt when added with partner funds. The state rebate will cover up to 3KW total for a maximum rebates of $4500 per system. There is $1,950,000 budgeted for this program which will fund a minimum 433 residential grid-tied solar PV systems.
The 2010 solar rebate program was outlined in a webinar by Daniella Vaughn and Stacey Simms. They said striking the right balance of financial incentive was a goal of this year’s program and is met by the strategy of using GEO solar rebates up to the $3/watt maximum combined rebate.
So, if the local partner offers $1.50/watt, homeowners will get the full GEO rebate of an additional $1.50/watt for a total of $3/watt. If you are in an area with no local partner other rebates available, the GEO rebate of $1.50 will apply. If the local partner offers $2/watt, the maximum GEO rebate will be $1 for a total of the $3 maximum.
No GEO funds will be available for solar energy in Xcel Energy territory because Xcel was already offering $3/watt on solar PV systems when the program was calculated in September. Since then, Xcel has reduced its rebates on residential solar PV, but the GEO program will not be able to revise the numbers until next September.
Rebates must be authorized in writing by a confirmation letter from GEO, so no installations done prior authorization will be eligible for rebates. The Stimulus funds for rebates are limitied, so the 2-step application process will secure rebates for each project on approval. The program will not begin until 2010.
Comments on the new Energy Star guidelines are due Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Revising the guidelines for ENERGY STAR qualified homes enables EPA to ensure that homes that earn the label continue to represent a meaningful improvement in energy efficiency over homes that are built to code or standard builder business practices. These new guidelines will help EPA meet its broader goal of transforming the housing industry to build homes with less environmental impact and increased homeowner benefits, including greater affordability through lower energy bills along with improved comfort, indoor air quality, and durability.
EPA has reviewed all first-round comments and made changes to the proposed guidelines to meet the needs of the program while addressing respondents’ concerns. Click here to find the updated proposed guidelines and quality checklists, EPA’s response to the first round of comments, a comment form, and additional resources. Or visit www.energystar.gov/homes and click on the “proposed guidelines” link
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