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.