Recently, the City of Lacey, Washington approached Thurston Energy with an interesting proposition: would we be interested in expanding our efforts to help residents and businesses in Lacey become more energy efficient? We said yes, and the was born.

A little background about Thurston Energy, and the City of Lacey:

 

As a joint program of the Thurston EDC and TCAT, Thurston Energy is primarily grant funded to promote energy efficiency to homes and businesses in Thurston County by providing low-cost energy use evaluations and implementation services. The budget for this project is spread evenly throughout Thurston County for the purpose of outreach and service delivery.

In 2009, the City of Lacey was allocated $164,900 through ARRA’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program (Grant No. DE-RW0000226) to develop, promote, implement, and manage energy efficiency and conservation projects and programs. In addition to this, four programs were selected for funding through EECBG to create a positive impact on Lacey’s environment, including a portion of funds going to the initial funding of TCAT’s application for Thurston Energy’s grant award.

Thurston Energy conducted multiple canvassing and other outreach activities and promotions in 2010, with more than 65 homeowners in Lacey going through Thurston Energy’s efficiency services program. The City of Lacey recognized this, and approached Thurston Energy about the possibility of expanding its scope of outreach and service delivery to Lacey residents and businesses by accepting a sub-award of Lacey’s EECBG funds. With these additional funds, Thurston Energy can offer more comprehensive outreach during the time period mandated by the Recovery Act.

Thurston Energy is excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with the city of Lacey to help make it a more energy efficient and healthy community. We welcome the opportunity to help further the City of Lacey’s mission to be a model of sustainability in our region. We will be focusing on:

• Expanding efforts specifically geared toward City of Lacey residents to promote Thurston Energy’s HomePLUS^TM energy use evaluation and efficiency upgrades
• Providing rebate incentives for homeowners that make qualified energy efficiency upgrades
• Lacey business outreach to promote walk-through assessments, lighting upgrades and other relevant energy efficiency-related offers

 

This project is just beginning, and will run through August 2012, or until the funds run out.