Doyle says energy funds will create thousands of jobs

[irishbobcat]

Doyle says energy funds will create thousands of jobs
 

  Mar 14, 2009
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
   
Thomas Content

Mar. 14, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Barbara Ostovich is looking forward to saving nearly $1,700 a year on her energy bills thanks to a new furnace, refrigerator and insulation that have been added to her home.

Ostovich opened the doors of her home in the 3200 block of S. 6th St. to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore Friday. The politicians toured the house to see an example of the home-weatherization program that's about to get a boost in funding from the federal economic stimulus package.

After getting a new energy-efficient furnace installed last month, her utility bill dropped by $100, Ostovich said.

"And now that the insulation has been added, next month it should be even less," said Ostovich, a widow living on Social Security.

The stimulus package can be expected to add hundreds of jobs in Milwaukee County, where companies involved in insulation and agencies that distribute weatherization funds are hiring.

Doyle projected the stimulus funding boost could add thousands of jobs across the state.

Chu and Doyle, during a roundtable meeting earlier Friday at Discovery World, discussed ways to expand the energy-efficiency program beyond low-income households.

More than $100 million in funding from the stimulus package will help weatherize thousands more homes in Milwaukee County every year, according to the leaders of two agencies responsible for weatherizing low-income homes.

Waukesha-based La Casa de Esperanza Inc. has already hired 25 people and expects to add 75 more by the end of the year to help it more than double the number of homes it weatherizes in southeastern Wisconsin, said Anselmo Villarreal, president and chief executive of La Casa.

Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Social Development Commission expects to hire 80 to 90 contractors and up to 40 employees engaged directly in weatherization thanks to the surge in federal funding, said Vincent Montgomery of SDC.

Together, La Casa and SDC officials project their agencies will be able to weatherize 5,100 homes a year, up from 2,300 last year.

Chu and Doyle also discussed a funding model for all consumers under which energy-efficiency upgrades could be financed over time, rather than up-front.

Under the system, the cost of a new furnace, air sealing, insulation and other upgrades would be paid through the savings in energy costs generated on a homeowner's utility bill, Chu and Doyle said.

"We have to invent mechanisms like this that will enable the vast middle class to benefit from this," Chu said.

The funding concept being considered is similar to that proposed for a Milwaukee Energy Efficiency program that has been proposed by the city and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a Madison-based think tank.

Including both weatherization and energy funding, Wisconsin is projected to receive $197 million from the stimulus package.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0130-33003017
   
   

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We need Green Energy to create jobs.....the time is now! Let's get started!!


Dennis Spisak

Mahoning Valley Green Party

Ohio Green Party



www.ohiogreens.org

www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/