State Energy Officials Urging Broad, Transparent, and Accountable Use of Stimulus Funds

On a web conference hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council's Government Committee, Strategy Session- Greening Existing Buildings with Funds from Economic Stimulus, a representative from a state energy official organization reported that they were urging the Department of Energy to allocate stimulus funds more broadly by imposing caps on how much of a project could be funded with stimulus money. They are also advocating open book pricing as part of a "nimble procurement" process intended to provide transparency and expediency to the utilization of the funds. They are also recommending that any funding used for energy efficiency improvements be tied to requirements for measuring and verifying energy savings.

Finally, the consensus of those on the conference was that the majority of the stimulus funding is intended for public buildings, however private buildings could apply for grant funding for their efficiency upgrades. This guidance document was recently released by the U.S. Department of Energy regarding the allocation of stimulus funding.