Denver receives $6 million federal energy efficiency grant

Denver won $6,079,500 from the U.S. Department of Energy to “embark on a community-wide energy saving plan,” according to a press release sent out by Mayor Hickenlooper’s office today. The city will be provided the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block (EECB) grant to improve efficiency through its Green print Denver programs.

“This grant provides an unprecedented opportunity for the city to directly help residents and make Denver an even better place to live, work and play,” Hickenlooper said. “We are doing all we can to maximize federal dollars and expand programs that reduce energy use throughout our community, help people save money and protect our environment.”

The grant comes as apart of the Federal Recovery Act program. Denver applied June 24 and is now one of the recipients of a share of $1.9 billion dollars to be distributed to 1,800 communities nation wide.

According to the release and addition $900 million was given to state energy offices to distribute to smaller communities.

The grants will pay for programs that include home weatherizing assistance and the installation of seven bicycle checkout kiosks near light-rail stations.

Funds will also be used to conduct energy audits of city recreation centers and libraries, to provide improvements in city facilities in order to save an estimated $400,000 dollars per year in energy costs, to step up the process of implementing building codes to provide higher energy efficiency, and to replace 200 traffic signals with LED’s, which will use 88 percent less energy than the current incandescent lights now use.

In the release, Gov. Bill Ritter adds that the “funding will preserve and create jobs in our New Energy Economy while extending the already impressive reach of Denver’s efforts to save energy and bring cleaner sources of power on-line.”

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