Green Lean Ideas

Chandler Looking for ‘Green’ Stimulus Grant

Filed Under: Green Opportunities on July 3, 2009

green stimulus

By Kimberly Navarro, Eco-Consultant

July 3, 2009

This is very exciting news.  The stimulus funds approved earlier this year are already being used, and there are more on the way for organizations who rush to meet the July 21 deadline.  Can you imagine how much money a new A/C unit or solar panels would save an average 4-person family during these hot summer months?  Let’s hope that the funded programs are appropriately outsourced to local businesses versus large national chains so that we’re feeding our local economy and creating jobs and prosperity in our own backyard.  I also hope the recipient of these large grants make it easier for innovative, smaller startups to participate in the projects.  More local “eco-focused” businesses will mean more competition for the larger companies, which in turn may drive the cost down and make energy-efficient products and services more affordable for everyone, which is a very, very good thing!

Jun. 28–Chandler is hoping for more than $750,000 in federal stimulus funds to buy “green” appliances for public housing in an attempt to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and save low-income tenants money on utility bills.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant would be used for energy-efficient refrigerators, environmentally friendly hot water heaters and low-flow toilets, said Kurt Knutson, housing and redevelopment manager. For instance, toilets in public housing could be reduced to 1.3 gallons per flush.

“I believe it’s the lowest they currently have that’s still efficient and works,” Knutson said.

Public housing tenants are responsible for most or all of the utility bills they incur, he said. The new fixtures are expected to save them money.

City officials are rushing to inventory all the units’ appliances before July 21, when the grant application is due. The information will be used to develop a comparability chart that details anticipated energy and water savings.

Knutson said the inventory survey is labor intensive. Chandler has 303 public housing units, making up five multifamily housing developments — including one for the elderly — and 103 single-family homes across the city.

“We have a hodgepodge out there,” he said.

Officials expect to know in September whether the application is successful. Efforts also are under way to replace heating and air conditioning units in four Chandler public housing complexes using nearly $600,000 in additional federal stimulus money.

Another $2.3 million stimulus allocation from the U.S. Department of Energy is expected to pay a raft of other “green” projects that city officials claim will cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced by city buildings and vehicles annually by 4,000 tons. The city’s calculations put its carbon footprint in 2008 at more than 131,000 tons.

That grant is slated to break down into a $500,000 solar power installation on the new City Hall now under construction at Arizona Avenue and Chicago Street downtown; more than $1 million to replace heating and air conditioning units in seven city buildings, including the Chandler Center for the Arts, with more efficient units; and the replacement of windows, equipment and light fixtures with more energy-efficient models.

A portion of that award also could go toward putting solar power units on foreclosed homes that the city intends to convert into affordable housing. The affordable housing program, in which Chandler, through a trust overseen by the nonprofit NewTown, would buy up to 17 foreclosed homes in the 85225 ZIP code for resale to low-income buyers, is also funded by a $2.4 million federal stimulus grant from HUD.

(Source: The Tribune) By Ari Cohn, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz. http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3317846