As Gov. Dannel P. Malloy sees it, Connecticut can soon recover the once-lofty reputation for energy efficiency it has since ceded to California and Massachusetts.
He might get the state there quicker by setting his sights on the Bay State”™s new as-of-right siting policy, which allows towns to designate districts for alternative energy projects to give developers expedited approval for their projects. While Stamford has an energy improvement district with a similar goal, Connecticut has yet to roll out the concept statewide as Massachusetts has.
In a speech this month to a Stamford gathering of the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, Malloy said his goal is to have Connecticut be at the top of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy”™s annual scorecard within two years. The state ranked eighth in ACEEE”™s most recent ranking.
Connecticut last held the top spot in 2007 under former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who attempted to rally public awareness under the “One Thing” tagline asking residents to do one thing to save energy. In Stamford, Malloy unveiled his own clean energy initiative slogan: Energize CT.
After California took the top spot for four consecutive years, Massachusetts bumped it in last fall”™s scorecard, largely due to its Green Communities Act passed in 2008 that steers incentives to municipalities that create pre-approved districts for renewable energy sources such as wind turbines.
At press deadline, more than 85 Massachusetts cities and towns had achieved the designation by:
Ӣ creating designated as-of-right siting zones for alternative energy generation;
Ӣ adopting an expedited permit process for those facilities;
Ӣ establishing an energy-use baseline and plan to reduce cut energy use 20 percent within five years;
Ӣ buying fuel-efficient vehicles only; and
Ӣ set requirements to minimize life-cycle energy costs for new construction.
For its part, Connecticut continues to focus on financing options in spurring alternative energy and efficiency, including in a short special session in June when the state created a “commercial property assessed clean energy program.” Already used in several other states, CPACE allows property owners to access low-cost, long-term upfront financing for qualified building energy upgrades, and then repay the loan through a “benefit assessment” on their property tax.
Separately, the Connecticut Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority is developing an interactive web portal to connect clean energy developers with businesses, municipalities, universities and other potential customers.
Malloy told NEEP members that the state”™s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is recommending an increase in the budget for efficiency programs from $105 million to $158 million for this year to expand programs offered to homeowners and businesses, overseen by the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Board.
The increased funding for efficiency programs is a major recommendation contained in a 68-page document ”“ Connecticut”™s Integrated Resource Plan ”“ which was posted online this month at ct.gov/deep.
“We ”˜get”™ that financing is critical to putting efficiency within the reach of more residents and businesses,” Malloy said in Stamford. “Lack of capital is the biggest barrier to making energy upgrades in buildings, so we are exploring all possibilities for attractive financing, including on-bill payment whenever that is practical.”
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, communities received unprecedented federal funding via the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. Much of that funding expires this year, however, and with municipal budgets under continued strain, gaps in funding for various projects are likely to materialize.
In a limited survey of municipalities last year, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USA found most rely on one-time or year-to-year funding sources, with just 37 percent deriving funds from ongoing sources such as fees or rebates for cost savings.
