Dept of Energy earmarks additional $120m for weatherisation programme

The US Department of Energy (DoE) last week extended its weatherisation programme, announcing that it has awarded almost $120m (£77m) in fresh funding to about 120 organisations across the country currently working on domestic energy efficiency projects.

The announcement came as energy secretary Steven Chu released new figures revealing that as of June the government's weatherisation programme had carried out energy efficiency improvements on more than 31,600 homes.

The weatherisation initiative, which was approved as part of the US economic stimulus package, attracted criticism last year for taking too long to get up and running. However, the Department of Energy said the scheme was now operating at its "optimal run rate", delivering makeovers to about 25,000 homes a month.

Figures from state authorities also suggest that the scheme supported more than 13,000 jobs in the second quarter of 2010.

"The weatherisation programme under the Recovery Act is successfully creating jobs in local communities, saving money for families, and reducing carbon pollution across the country," said Chu, adding that the latest round of funding for the programme would help provide even greater cost and energy savings for low-income families.

As part of the latest funding awards, nearly $90m will be issued to more than 100 of the best-performing weatherisation providers in 27 states, allowing them to expand their activities and complete makeovers for thousands of additional homes. The successful recipients include private firms as well as state agencies, charities and social enterprises.

The DoE said the organisations selected for additional funding had already spent 30 per cent of their initial tranche of stimulus funding and completed 30 per cent of their assigned home makeovers.

It added that the extra funding would allow organisations to install renewable energy technologies such as solar heating systems, heat pumps and small-scale wind turbines, as well as energy efficiency improvements such as insulation and green appliances.

The remaining $30m of new funding has been awarded to 16 projects working on the development of cutting-edge designs and technologies capable of improving the energy efficiency of low-income homes.

The DoE said the projects will include "new types of weatherisation partnerships, financial models that allow for greater private sector leveraging, workforce training and volunteer engagement, and the demonstration of new energy efficiency technologies such as in-home energy monitors".