U.S. Department of Energy/State Energy Program Offices
During the past few months, the number of submittals received for Conservation Update has declined, so we thought this would be a good time to remind you about the purpose of this newsletter and to encourage your contributions. Conservation Update was established in 1985 as an information exchange and technology transfer tool for State Energy Program offices in the states and territories. Both regular monthly issues of Update and special issues devoted to specific topics are distributed. Also an annual index is produced to assist in the use of Update from each twelve-month period.

Energy offices are encouraged to report SEP activities, plans, results, evaluations, as well as announce meetings and conferences. Also, Update can serve as a resource to request information from other energy offices. Brief paragraphs reporting office notes, such as personnel, organizational and address changes are also accepted. Each submittal should include a contact person and telephone number.

Submittals should be highlights or summaries of program information. Update readers are encouraged to call the contact for more information or to request materials. Instructions for making submittals are provided above.

Arizona
1997 Energy Management Conference Held
The 1997 Energy Management Conference (EMC) was held December 10-11, 1997, at the Orange Tree Golf and Conference Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. More than 200 energy professionals from around the state attended the two-day conference, which featured sessions on the latest energy conservation trends, techniques, and equipment. The conference was hosted by the Arizona Department of Commerce Energy Office, and co-hosted by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and the Arizona School Board Association.

Contact: Gloria Castro, (602) 280-1410

Governor's Award for Energy Efficiency Presented
Secretary of State Betsey Bayless presented the 1997 Governor's Award for Energy Efficiency to eight government, state, and educational institutions at the Eighteenth Annual Energy Management Conference on December 10, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The awards were presented for outstanding energy conservation and renewable energy projects. The award-winning projects were selected from a competitive field of submissions statewide. Prior to 1997, the Arizona Department of Commerce presented the Energy Conscious Community Awards.

Contact: Gloria Castro, (602) 280-1410

Arkansas
Request for Information on Establishing Programs for Museum of Discovery
The Arkansas Museum of Science and History will be moving into a newly renovated building in February. Within the new structure will be a Museum of Discovery that will have a number of hands-on exhibits targeted toward school-age children. Some of these exhibits will demonstrate the use of various forms of energy and will give the visitors some insights into the applicability and potential for energy use and energy efficiency.

The Arkansas Energy Office would appreciate hearing from any states that have established some sort of relationship with a hands-on, education-oriented museum. We would like to explore the possibility of traveling exhibits, an exhibit exchange program, or other ways that we might enhance educational opportunities through sharing these resources.

Another aspect of the Museum of Discovery will be an auditorium where the visitors can view presentations on a variety of subjects relating to topics addressed through exhibits at the museum. We are aware that some states have initiated programs that present targeted messages on energy use/efficiency to school children. We would very much like to receive any information that you may have available on these programs. Please indicate whether these programs are proprietary or if they might be borrowed for use elsewhere.

Contact: Morris Jenkins, (501) 682-7377; e-mail mjenkins@aedc.state.ar.us

Colorado
Transportation Partnerships Wind Down as New Smart Growth Regional Partnerships Program Develops
The Governor's Office of Energy Conservation (OEC) recently announced that the cities of Glendale and Steamboat Springs and the town of Bayfield have been awarded $91,000 in grants to manage transportation demand, increase energy efficiency, and improve air quality.

OEC also announced that the next round of Transportation Partnerships funding would be the final round in January 1998. OEC created the Transportation Partnerships program in October 1995, as a way to encourage Colorado communities to develop new and innovative solutions to growth-related concerns of transportation, land use, and the environment.

Governor Romer will soon introduce a new grant program called Smart Growth Regional Partnerships, which will reflect the framework of OEC's Transportation Partnerships. The new program will offer grants to address a broader range of regional growth issues and has goals that parallel Governor Romer's Smart Growth and Development initiative.

An initial Smart Growth grant cycle is expected to take place this spring. The governor's Smart Growth and Development initiative addresses challenges of growth and identifies ways to support sound planning efforts and worthy partnerships.

This Transportation Partnerships grant cycle funded the following projects:

• The Town of Bayfield received $18,000 to seek solutions to a major traffic safety and congestion problem in the community. Members of the community, including educators, business leaders, child care professionals, and local elected officials, have requested funds from OEC to plan for, design, and estimate costs for effective and safe alternatives for crossing Highway 160. Solutions may include new bike paths and pedestrian trails. Project leaders will coordinate their efforts with state highway planners.
  

• The City of Glendale was awarded $49,000 with support from several businesses and developers in the Cherry Creek and South Colorado Boulevard area, Regional Transportation District, Denver Regional Council of Governments, City and County of Denver, and others to develop an innovative community-based shuttle. The shuttle will circulate through congested areas between Cherry Creek and South Colorado Boulevard to enhance transportation efficiency for residents, employees, and visitors. The shuttle will reduce congestion and air pollution in one of the Denver metropolitan area's busiest centers. Transportation Solutions, a local transportation management association, will manage the project and work to engage the community in promoting the shuttle.
  

• The City of Steamboat Springs received $24,000 to conduct a survey to improve current transit services, design new transit services, and develop innovative transportation strategies to reduce regional traffic within the Yampa Valley. This grant is an expansion of an earlier project funded by Transportation Partnerships to consolidate and coordinate public and private transit systems to meet rider needs and reduce vehicle miles traveled.

Contact: Kate Fay, (303) 444-1214

Iowa
Energy Star Buildings
The state of Iowa officially became an Energy Star Building partner this fall when Governor Terry E. Branstad signed a Memorandum of Understanding forming a voluntary partnership between the state of Iowa and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The state of Iowa Facilities Improvement Corporation began energy efficiency work in 1986, completing more than $28 million in improvements, and it continues to monitor success of implemented improvements. This new partnership will focus on completing the second generation of energy improvements for Iowa's state facilities and will emphasize developing comprehensive programs for the state's three universities. The universities may develop Integrated Resources Plans to address on-site generation in addition to the more traditional demand-side management improvements. Other projects will include upgrades and renovations at the state's prisons, mental health facilities, office buildings, and recreational areas.

Contact: Lynnae Dingeman, (515) 281-5237; e-mail, ldingem@max.state.ia.us

Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc. to Market Switchgrass Products
A group of Iowa farmers has formed a nonprofit corporation called Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc. to evaluate the feasibility of manufacturing and marketing biomass products from switchgrass. In December, Universal Pellet Mill in Kansas City manufactured approximately a ton of switchgrass pellets for the corporation. The pellets are of the same quality and density as wood pellets and will be burned this winter by potential customers to test the product from a consumer's perspective.

Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc. plans to carry out additional projects of this type to promote commercialization of switchgrass. By exploring opportunities to market switchgrass in the form of fuel pellets, briquettes, logs, ethanol, fiberboard, and the chemical furfural, the corporation will increase incentives for farmers to grow the native warm-season grass in quantities large enough to be co-fired with coal at an IES power plant in southern Iowa.

Contact: Martin Braster, (515) 437-4376

Kentucky
Division Supports Two Pieces of Energy Legislation
The Division of Energy has had direct involvement with two bills that are being considered by the 1998 Kentucky General Assembly. A bill proposing an income tax credit for developers of landfill gas-to-energy projects is intended to encourage methane gas recovery from Kentucky landfills. Such projects help to decrease the emissions of a greenhouse gas (methane) while capturing an energy source that is otherwise wasted. Kentucky landfills are venting or flaring their landfill gas rather than using it for energy. The federal tax incentive expired before any Kentucky projects could make use of it. (The proposed tax credit would help to offset a federal tax credit that expired December 31, 1996. Kentucky Governor Paul Patton has written a letter to the U.S. Congressional delegation requesting a re-instatement of the federal tax credit.)

The other bill up for consideration is an attempt to facilitate performance contracting by the private sector by expanding legislation passed in 1996 implementing an energy efficiency program for state and local government buildings. The bill would exclude the bidding process now required for each energy conservation measure in arranging energy savings performance contracts.

Contact: John Stapleton, (502) 564-7192

New York
Energy Conservation for Healthcare Organizations (ECHO)
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) officially launched Energy Conservation for Healthcare Organizations (ECHO) through Rebuild Western New York. Rebuild Western New York is a program designed to encourage energy efficiency improvements to healthcare, college and university, municipality, and multifamily facilities in the eight westernmost counties of the state. ECHO will help initiate these improvements in the region's healthcare facilities. NYSERDA joined forces with the Healthcare Association of New York State, the Western New York Healthcare Association, the Electric Power Research Institute's Healthcare Initiative, the New York Energy Efficiency Council, and the local utilities to offer an umbrella of technical assistance services.

These services will help institutions address energy and environmental issues in a coordinated manner by:

• Offering identification and analysis of energy and environmental opportunities;
  

• Establishing baseline energy use;
  

• Conducting joint-commissioning, safety, and security assessments;
  

• Providing sources of financing; and
  

• Offering assistance and model documents for energy performance contracting.

Contact: Priscilla Richards, (518) 862-1090, ext. 3312; e-mail pjr@nyserda.org

The State Energy Investment Program, State EnVest
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announces the State EnVest Program for state-owned buildings. This program enables state agencies to make their facilities as energy-efficient as practical with no up-front costs. State EnVest uses private sector energy performance contractors, under contract to NYSERDA, to design and install efficiency measures and energy-related capital improvements. Participating state facilities could reduce energy consumption by up to 20%. State EnVest is capitalized with $65 million structured as an off-budget tax-exempt municipal lease. Project financing will be arranged such that all annual costs (including project financing, monitoring, and a savings guarantee) will be less than the energy savings realized from the project, resulting in a positive cash flow for the state. This program is an excellent example of how the public sector can work cooperatively with the private sector to help lower New York's energy costs.

Contact: Gary Davidson, (518) 862-1090

Oregon
Oregon Consumers Earn First Tax Credit for Efficient Home Appliances
Oregon has become the first state in the nation to give its residents credit for considering more than price tags and color schemes when buying home appliances. Oregon's tax credit for energy-efficient clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and water heaters, proposed by the Oregon Office of Energy and approved by the Oregon Legislature in 1997, debuted in January as a way to encourage residents to save energy. The tax credit is intended to help consumers look beyond the higher prices attached to some energy-efficient appliances to understand the savings the appliances produce over time.

Under the Residential Energy Tax Credit program, homeowners and renters can earn a credit on their state income taxes anywhere from about $50 to more than $200 for buying a clothes washer, dishwasher, refrigerator, or water heater recognized as energy-efficient by the Oregon Office of Energy. The credit is based on estimated first-year savings and is limited to 25% of the net cost.

The Residential Energy Tax Credit program also offers new tax credits for:

• The installation of a well-designed and sealed duct system in a new home or the sealing of existing ductwork. The tax credit is 25% of the cost of duct sealing or additional installation cost, with a maximum credit of $250. The Oregon Office of Energy must certify the contractor performing the work.
  

• The purchase of a vehicle that uses an alternative fuel such as electricity or natural gas, or the conversion of a vehicle to use an alternative fuel. The tax credit is 25% of the cost of the alternative fuel features, up to $750. A home charging or fueling system also is eligible for a 25% tax credit, up to $750.

Contact: Suzanne Dillard, (503) 373-7565

CONSERVATION UPDATE is a free monthly publication prepared by the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, Division of Energy, with funding from the United States Department of Energy, to facilitate the transfer of current State Energy Program (SEP) and technical information among the states and territories. Please submit short articles that describe successful programs, solicit ideas, share reports, studies or evaluations, or announce new publications, personnel changes, office address changes, conferences, seminars and workshops. Submittals are due by the seventh of each month. Please send submittals, address corrections, or name changes to: CONSERVATION UPDATE, Division of Energy, 663 Teton Trail, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, phone (502) 564-7192, facsimile (502) 564-7484, email: landry@nrepc.nr.state.ky.us. Past issues are available upon request. For more information, contact Karen W. Landry, Editor, or John M. Stapleton, Director.

Visit the Division's Web site at www.nr.state.ky.us/nrepc/dnr/energy/dnrdoe.html

SearchWebmaster

U.S. Department of Energy