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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, September 14, 2009
Contact:
Scott
Clark, Strategic Planning Director, 360-709-3005
Thurston
County
Receives Energy Efficiency Grant Funding
OLYMPIA
– Grant funding from the
federal government will help
Thurston
County
identify and fix energy wasting problems with county facilities.
The funding will also help with energy efficiency in new county
developments and in designing accommodations for changing climate conditions.
Scott
Clark, the Strategic Planning Director for the county, says the grant funding
will come in two phases totaling $617,000. “The first phase comes from the
U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is a $232,000 Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Block Grant as authorized through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act.”
DOE
distributed the first round of funds to
Thurston
County
on September 8. The initial funding will be used to perform energy audits on
county facilities, develop green residential and commercial development code,
and develop the county's climate change response plan. The second round of
funds will be used to make energy efficiency improvements and retrofits to
county facilities that were identified during the audits.
Clark
says the initial work will include the development of a
public participation plan to assist in the review and revision of county
development standards, an assessment of county facilities energy use and green
house gas emissions and the development of an Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Strategy to identify the most effective use of subsequent grant
funding. Also funded during the initial phase is the county’s climate change
response plan. The project
is expected to get underway by mid October 2009.
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