Green Jobs, Green Houses

The Green Jobs Committee that I organized has been working for three months to develop ways to bring green jobs to our community and to make our homes more energy and water efficient.

We have developed a program which will come to the Council Housing Committee on January 29th to bring Green Jobs and Green Houses to our community. The plan is to provide a one stop program so people can reduce their water and energy usage with a package of proven techniques and products. The "phase 1"
package is intended to be a grant and can result in a 20% saving of water and
electric costs. The "phase 2" package is a low interest loan tied either to the water bill or property tax bill and can result in up to a 50% savings in
electric costs and a 20% savings in the water costs.

Details are still in the works. However, we hope to have this in place and
operational by the Spring. If President Obama's green jobs package passes,
we hope to radically expand this quickly to the thousands of older homes across our city. This is the fastest and easiest way to control our energy
costs and provide both entry level and skilled jobs to our community.

The coalition supporting this effort is very broad and includes: the urban
league, Progress Energy, the City's Housing and Water departments, the Pinellas Realtors, USF environmental professors and environmental activists.

UPDATE: 2/18/09

City Council approved of the reorganization and improvements to the energy efficiency programs mentioned above. Combined with stimulus package, this should allow us to help at least a thousand households save significantly on their water and electric bills.

I am working with staff and the Green Jobs Committee to make sure that we take advantage of the full range of energy efficiency programs that are in the
stimulus package.

3/21/09 - See HELP Loans - Home Energy Loan Program.

4/24 - UPDATE - MAJOR VICTORY! A group of 15 volunteers knocked on doors in Bartlett Park on 4/11 to let people know about the free energy and water efficiency upgrades that are available to homeowners in the neighborhood. The
response was so positive that staff agreed to expand this to many other neighborhoods within 60 days. This program is aimed at low and moderate income homeowners. We have identified additional state dollars to expand the
program which should result in homeowners savings up to 25% on their water and
power bills!