Northeastern Illinois to receive $25 million for energy retrofits

On April 21, 2010, Vice President Joe Biden announced 25 awards nationally through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Retrofit Ramp-Up stimulus initiative.  A regional collaboration led by CMAP -- in partnership with the Cities of Chicago and Rockford, with support from suburban and regional stakeholders -- will receive $25 million to transform the market for carrying out energy-efficiency retrofits to commercial and residential buildings in Northeastern Illinois.  (Read more about the proposal on the Recovery blog and more about the award in this press release.)

The three-year award is intended to help the emerging retrofit market make the transition to a fully developed commercial sector by creating efficiencies on a broad regional scale in an economically sustainable manner that will be scalable and replicable elsewhere.  This will include making sure every homeowner and business owner has the information to make decisions about retrofitting their buildings, creating financial products to facilitation the installation of selected measures, and providing a way for suppliers of retrofits to meet consumer demand with consistent, efficient, and affordable solutions.

CMAP anticipates that this $25 million investment will leverage more than $500 million in private capital for the Chicago Region Retrofit Ramp-Up.  Over 2,000 jobs will be created through the effort, and an estimated 9,500 buildings will be retrofitted, resulting in an average of 30 percent energy savings. 

DOE awarded a number of multi-jurisdictional partnerships like CMAP’s, which is a positive sign of the federal government supporting regional approaches to planning issues.  Other partnerships included the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance of Ohio, and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, which includes 10 southeastern states.

See some coverage of our award in the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, the Daily Herald, and the Chicago Sun-Times.  The Center for Neighborhood Technology, also posted a congratulatory article on their website that describes on this regional initiative will build on the success of existing energy efficiency programs, like their own Energy Savers Program.