Springfield receives energy-efficiency grant

From rigid-foam insulation in Montpelier to a wood-pellet fired boiler in Fayston, towns across Vermont will soon be using federal stimulus funds to improve energy efficiency and generate renewable.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100330/NEWS02/3300362/1003/NEWS02       # # # # Springfield receives energy-efficiency grant  •  Rutland Herald  •  By Peter Hirschfeld VERMONT PRESS BUREAU - Published: March 30, 2010  •  From rigid-foam insulation in Montpelier to a wood-pellet fired boiler in Fayston, towns across Vermont will soon be using federal stimulus funds to improve energy efficiency and generate renewable power.  •  On Monday, in the lobby of the South Burlington High School, Sen. Bernard Sanders announced the recipients of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. Nearly 150 schools and municipalities will split about $6 million in federal grants in an initiative designed to create jobs, improve the environment and cut energy costs.  •  The Springfield school district was among those receiving good news, with the announcement that it would getting a $50,000 energy efficiency grant.  •  The grant program, which allocated more than $3 billion nationwide, was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  •  "I happen to believe that over a period of years, if our country gets its act together and moves aggressively in renewable energies such as wind, geothermal, solar and biomass, we can create millions of good paying jobs which will play an important role in moving us out of this great recession we currently find ourselves in," Sanders said.  •  The grants, which ranged from $8,400 in Belvidere to $72,000 in Putney, focus less on power generation than they do on energy efficiency. More than $4 million will go to 98 schools and towns for energy-efficiency retrofits.  •  Another 42 towns will split $1.5 million to install more efficient street and exterior lighting.  •  The city of Montpelier, according to Director of Planning Gwendolyn Hallsmith, will use its $50,000 appropriation to cut energy costs in a Barre Street senior center gutted last year by a fire.  •  "We want to bring that building back online and make it useful for seniors and also make it affordable," Hallsmith said.  •  The money, she said, will help the city install rigid-foam insulation and put in storm windows.  •  "It's really an energy drain right now," Hallsmith said. "It's got all those big old school-building windows that let light in but let heat out."  •  The federal money is being disbursed by the Clean Energy Development Fund, which has seen its coffers rise to new highs as a result of federal stimulus funding. The fund has $30 million now, thanks to a combination of stimulus allocations. Fund manager Andrew Perchlik said the money offers a rare opportunity to propel the state's renewable-energy portfolio.  •  "We're trying to spend it smart, and make it have a long-term impact," Perchlik said.  •  In addition to the $5.8 million in grants announced Monday, the Clean Energy Development Fund – overseen by a board of directors that includes legislative and executive appointees – will launch a $5 million incentive program intended to propagate solar, wind and microhydro installations in homes and businesses. Another $2 million will go to weatherization projects. Seeing the new technologies – such as solar hot-water systems – on prominent buildings around the state, Perchlik said, will bring alternative energies further into the mainstream.  •  "Before, if you talked to a plumber about solar hot water, he might say that doesn't work in Vermont," Perchlik said. "Now more of them are really doing it. When people see these technologies on local school and town buildings, they consider it as an option themselves."  •  House Speaker Shap Smith said that as towns and school district realize the cost benefits of efficiency measures, more of them will consider the adopting the strategy.  •  "Our community leaders can see how it makes a difference for them, so we can continue to encourage as public policy investments in clean energy and energy efficiency," he said.  •  Gov. James Douglas, who noted that Vermont tops the nation in energy-efficiency expenditures per capita, said the grant allocations will have the added benefit lowering energy costs in a difficult economic time.  •  "Vermonters will continue to realize benefits, both environmental and economic, for years to come," Douglas said.  •