Recovery Act Update: Energy Efficiency And Conservation Block Grants

The Recovery Act provided $2.8 billion for formula grants to 2300 eligible states, territories, and local governments for the development and implementation of projects to improve municipal energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption, particularly in the building and transportation sectors. An additional $454 million was made available for competitive grants. See the Alliance Recovery Act summary for more EECBG program details.

Spending Snapshot - August 20, 2010 (in millions)

Source

Funding Roll Out:

Formula grants: Since July 24, over 2100 grants have been awarded, representing $2.3 billion or 84 percent of the total amount appropriated. About 40 percent of the awarded funding is dedicated to projects currently underway while 3 percent was spent on projects now complete; the remaining portion of awarded funds are awaiting NEPA review and approval prior to project start. See the Department of Energy's EECBG page for more information on formula grants.

Competitive grants: Applications for the competitive block grant program were accepted through December 14, 2009. DOE will notify selected applicants by March 15, 2010 and make awards by May 15, 2010. DOE expects to grant between eight to twenty awards, ranging from $5 to $75 million in size, under the $390 million Retrofit Ramp-Up program to innovative programs that are structured to provide whole-neighborhood building energy retrofits. It also expects to grant fifteen to sixty awards, ranging from $1 to 5 million, under the General Innovation Fund ($64 million) to small cities and counties that were ineligible for the formula grants for energy efficiency efforts in the commercial, residential, transportation, manufacturing, or industrial sectors. See the Department of Energy Competitive Grants page for more information on the competitive grants program.

EECBG Recovery Act Timeline

• March 26, 2009: DOE launches the EECBG program.
• May 11, 2009: DOE issues funding opportunity announcement for formula grants.
• May 15, 2009: DOE conducts webcast for EECBG participants.
• June 25, 2009: Formula grant applications due to DOE
• July - September 2009: DOE issues formula grants to states and territories
• August 14, 2009: DOE releases Monitoring Plan for WAP, SEP, and EECBG
• September 14, 2009: DOE issues a Request for Information for feedback on the planned Funding Opportunity Announcement for competitive grants
• November 20, 2009: DOE issues a revised funding opportunity announcement for competitive grants
• December 14, 2009: Competitive grant applications due to DOE
• April 21, 2010: DOE announces 25 communities to receive major competitive grant awards
• June 11, 2010: DOE announces 20 more communities to receive smaller competitive grant awards
• March 10, 2012: All EECBG Recovery Act funds to be spent

Use of Funds:

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant activities vary. Most common applications include development of a state or local energy efficiency and conservation strategy, building energy audits and retrofits, building code development and inspection, and transportation improvements such as the installation of LED traffic signals and street lights. See a DOE presentation on EECBG planned activities for more information and examples, delivered February 2010.

Resources:

EECBG website - Department of Energy