Monday, June 15, 2009

County Launches Energy Efficiency Effort

At our staff meeting today, we received an update from our Administration on an energy efficiency strategy that should prove transformational in the long run.

Using federal stimulus dollars, we will invest millions of dollars in energy efficiency upgrades that will, over the long run, save taxpayer dollars, businesses and households millions of dollars, while creating new “green” job opportunities for residents. We will ultimately invest $4.8 Million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG).

Our approach will allow governments, businesses and individual homeowners across the County to save money over time by making strategic, sustainable investments in energy upgrades. The program will also help generate job-creating economic activity across the County.

The county plans to make key investments in:
- public building energy improvements, both County facilities and in communities across the County (facilities are the largest user of energy in government);
- public grants and loans to implement and finance energy improvements for eligible small - businesses and residents;
- specific, high-profile energy improvements on the Banks Project; and
- support the purchase of hybrid or alternative fueled vehicles within Hamilton County.

One of the most important directional changes we've made in the County in the last several years is our commitment to improving our environment while saving dollars on energy, and this plan will play a key role in achieving these goals.

We will submit our plan to the federal goverment on June 25, and hope to begin making these investments in a few months.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a simple idea, that if not already being done, would save alot of money across all county offices - set printers to print on both sides of the paper and reduce the quality setting to fast draft instead of normal.

UC recently made these changes to save money and energy consumption. The court house alone would save big time, and if they made it a part of their civil rules that all briefs be submitted the same, then we here in Hamilton County could make a huge impact on our environment.

epc london said...

a great post, many thanks

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